1 comments about How to Estimate With Means Data & Costworks: Lean How to Estimate Using the Nation's Most Recognized Construction Cost Data.

1. I finally found an excellent estimating text that very clearly explains how to use the RS Means data books in performing construction estimates. I teach construction management at Missouri State University and am continually looking for publications that "put the cookies on the bottom shelf", so to speak.
   
   This text is very thoroughly written, exceptionally supported with worked-out examples with the solutions provided. After having dived into the chapters, I found it to be very plainly explained without insulting the intelligence of the reader.
   
   Even if you don't plan on using the CostWorks estimating software (we used WinEst), this is a worthwhile book for learning how to use RS Means data, the industry standard for construction costs.

No comments about Developing Retail Entertainment Destinations.

No comments about Performative Architecture: Beyond Instrumentality.

4 comments about Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects: Architecture, Art, and Craft.

1. Very well edited book. Mostly residential projets. Each one is introduced w/ concept, dwg, (almost excessive)photos, and details. Design is a little on the conservative side sometimes(especailly for those ultra-rich clients), but spatial concept and detailing are still modern and very well developed. Some formal languages are complicated by, say, using double columns, which I really don't know what for other than visual complication.
   
   Overall I highly recommend this book, especially to people interested in well crafted residential projets.



2. Being OSKA an incredible architecture studio, and having a very good Web page, I was eager waiting for the book, but unexpectedly, the layout, colors and pictures of the book weren't in the same level



3. In a characteristically perceptive and graceful introduction, Paul Goldberger suggests that the world has caught up with the good sense and refined sensibility of this Seattle firm. This is a handsome, expansive study of a dozen houses, built for people of means and taste-a rare combination. All but two are located in the northwest, and each immerses you in the natural beauty of its site and its inner serenity. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)



4. This book wisely does not try to show all the work of Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen, one of the Northwest's leading architecture firms. Instead it focuses on a small number of selected homes designed by the firm, and then guides the reader through the creative process, from design through construction to finished product. What emerges is an elegant book of even more elegant homes, each quite different from the other, but all seeming to harness to the max both the power of line and the nurturing complexity of light.

2 comments about Morphosis/Diamond Ranch High School (Source Books in Architecture).

1. "Diamond Ranch High School: Source Book in Architecture" is perhaps one of the best books to have if you want to know the process of which great projects come to be.
   
   Divided into three sections, the first section is a documented transcript of Thom Mayne of Morphosis, critic Jeffrey Kipnis, and lecturer Todd Gannon during the Baumer Lecture Series at The Ohio State University. Mr. Kipnis and Mr. Gannon provide some of the best questions to Mr. Mayne - questions that many of us would actually want to ask Mr. Mayne. Likewise, Mr. Mayne's responses are eloquent and insightful. His honesty removes the aura created by his computer renderings and makes you realize that this is simply an individual who loves what he does.
   
   The second section of the book documents the drawings that Morphosis developed for the Diamond Ranch High School. Let's face it - we are usually presented with either a project proposal or a professional finished photograph and drawings are typically excluded from any typical documentation.
   
   The third section contains photos of the project under construction to the final construction photos.
   
   From the Mayne's discussion, to the drawings, and to the photographs, you gain a valuable insight into the true design and development of 'Diamond Ranch High School' that other publications simply gloss over.
   
   This series of books are simply one of the best in contemporary architectural writing and documentation today.



2. As an architect, I have followed Thom Mayne's work for a long period of time. I have collected most of his books and have always admired their production quality and most importantly, the depth of the work produced by this firm. They have been and will remain at the forefront of the architectural profession. Despite reading and studying Mayne's work and philosophies in other books, I have always been left unsatisfied, not knowing exactly how the firm works and how a project comes together within their office. The interview with Jeffery Kipnis and Todd Gannon at the front of the book enters into this territory, although I would have liked it to be much longer. The rest of the book is much like other Morphosis' books; full of beautiful sketches, computer renderings and drawings. Images walk the reader from schematic design through completion.

1 comments about Modeling Messages: The Architect and the Model.

1. As long as there have been architects, they have been using models to help design buildings, sell projects and instruct builders. "Modeling Messages" is a comprehensive study of the many facets architectural model making. Karen Moon starts by examing the history of the architectural model from the Renaissance to the early Twenty First Century. She moves on to such varied topics as the relationship between architect and model maker, architectural model as fine art and the changing role of high technology in the modeling process.
   
   If you are looking for a text book on how to build architectural models, this book is not for you. However, if you want to learn more about the model builder's craft and see some beautifully photographed models, this book is a must purchase. "Modeling Messages" is a high quality art book and it is one of those books that I will be reading for pleasure for many years to come. Highly recommended.

No comments about The Survival Guide to Architectural Internship and Career Development.

No comments about Value Pricing for the Design Firm.

5 comments about Construction Funding: The Process of Real Estate Development, Appraisal, and Finance.

1. This isnt a book for someone who wants to dabble in real estate investment. This is a book for big time investors (or people who want to be big time.) It is great if you're looking at large projects like apartment complexes, and it's well written.



2. the right book, at the right time, in the right place... dubai



3. I read construction funding, prematurely perhaps, as one of my first ever real estate books - and I loved it! The book takes the reader through several once-real-life scenarios and explains the construction process step by step. I think that both ambitious beginners and more seasoned loan officers and developers would benefit from reading this book.



4. Very interesting  book; very easy to read.
   As a small real estate investor I found it very helpful in understanding many of the ins and outs of real estate and financing, especially on the scale i would like to grow to.



5. The third edition of Construction Funding by Nathan S. Collier et al is a remarkable demonstration of insight and expertise. Collier and colleagues provide an exceptionally lucid description and analysis of the process of real estate development that is accessible to non-experts while being authoritative at the same time. In addition to being an excellent text for students and others interested in careers in real estate development, this book serves as essential background for all those whose responsibilities include any part of the development process.

No comments about Architectural Quality Control.