Recent Books List

Here are some recent books on a range of subjects in architecture and architectural research recommended by ARCC.

 

culture-meaning-architecture coverKeith Diaz Moore
Culture-Meaning-Architecture

This collection of essays provides an integrated source for thinking in multiple disciplines on the issue of culture and its relationship with built form and hence, human environmental experience. Whether one is primarily interested in how culture-built environment inquiry affects theoreticl issues, research approaches, research findings, practical applications, or has implications for teaching, the book offers a dialogue in regard to each perspective. The book’s introduction provides a conceptual framework for integrating the various contributions in a meaningful and systematic fashion. Contributors come from disciplines including anthropology, architecture, human ecology, psychology and urban planning.

Ashgate Pub Ltd (March 2000)

 

integrated-buildings coverLeonard Bachman
Integrated Buildings

An “anatomical” study of building systems integration with guidelines for practical applications Through a systems approach to buildings, Integrated Buildings: The Systems Basis of Architecture details the practice of integration to bridge the gap between the design intentions and technical demands of building projects. Analytic methods are introduced that illustrate the value, benefit, and application of systems integration, as well as guidelines for selecting technical systems in the conceptual, schematic, and design development stages of projects.

Wiley; 1 edition (December 23, 2002)

 

environmental-psychology-for-design coverDak Kopec
Environmental Psychology for Design

How does a room affect an occupant’s behavior and well-being? How does a building influence its residents’ health? Environmental Psychology for Design, 2nd Edition, explores these questions with an in-depth look at psychosocial responses to the built environment. Awarded the 2006 ASID Joel Polsky Prize, the first edition served as an introduction to the discipline of environmental psychology and inspired readers to embrace its key concepts and incorporate them into their practice. This 2nd edition continues to analyze the interaction between environments and human behavior and well-being, while exploring how individual differences related to age, gender, and cultural background impact that interaction. The book provides many proactive initiatives designed to minimize stress and maximize user satisfaction, helping readers to create more comfortable spaces that will both satisfy the needs of the intended occupants and expand the scope of design.

Fairchild Books; 2 edition (February 29, 2012)

 

architectural research methods coverLinda Groat, David Wang
Architectural Research Methods

The leading text on architectural research, Architectural Research Methods, Second Edition is completely revised throughout to include current trends and innovations in research, and discusses interdisciplinary involvement with design/build, sustainability and policy, urban design, product design, and product systems. This practical guide for architects and designers employs real-life examples of how good research can be used, from project inception to completion. New coverage of design studio-based research shows how the strategies described can be employed while new discussion of the use of digital media help frame the scope of research.

Wiley; 2 edition (April 8, 2013)

 

furture-of-architecture coverJean Louis Cohen
The Future of Architecture Since 1889

Truly far-ranging — both conceptually and geographically — The Future of Architecture Since 1889 is a rich, compelling history that will shape future thinking out this period for years to come. Jean-Louis Cohen, one of today’s most distinguished architectural historians and critics, gives an authoritative and compelling account of the twentieth century, tracing an arc from industrialization through computerization, and linking architecture to developments in art, technology, urbanism and critical theory. Encompassing both well-known masters and previously neglected but significant architects, this book also reflects Cohen’s deep knowledge of architecture across the globe, and in places such Eastern Europe and colonial Africa and South America that have rarely been included in histories of this period.

Phaidon Press (March 28, 2012)

 

healthy-cities coverChinmoy Sarkar, Chris Webster, John Gallacher
Healthy Cities

Mounting scientific evidence generated over the past decade highlights the significant role of our cities’ built environments in shaping our health and well-being. In this book, the authors conceptualize the urban health niche’ as a novel approach to public health and healthy-city planning that integrates the diverse and multi-level health determinants present in a city system.

The authors trace the origins of public health and city planning, drawing upon the shifting paradigms of epidemiology. Advanced network analysis techniques are employed to examine multi-scale associations between individual-level health outcomes and built environment features such as density, land-use mix and road network configuration.

Edward Elgar Pub (June 30, 2014)

 

construction-of-drawings-and-movies coverThomas Forget
The Construction of Drawings and Movies

The architectural imagery that you create is most effective when it examines your project in an abstract manner. Most students and practitioners understand linear perspective and cinema to be examples of architectural presentation tools. This book asks you to consider drawings and movies to be analytical tools that give you the capacity to engage all phases of the design process, from parti to presentation.

The ways in which spaces relate to each other and how materials connect to each other in your projects are as important as your building’s appearance. As digital tools increasingly allow you to simulate the experience of built and unbuilt environments, it is essential that you scrutinize the nature of architectural imagery and resist the lure of virtual reality. Though pure simulation may be appropriate for your clients, your design process requires abstraction and analysis.

Routledge; 1 edition (September 1, 2012)

 

architectural conservation coverJohn H. Stubbs, Emily G. Makas
Architectural Conservation

An astonishing feat of research, compilation and synthesis. The book delivers the first major survey concerning the conservation of cultural heritage in both Europe and the Americas. Architectural Conservation in Europe and the Americas serves as a convenient resource for professionals, students, and anyone interested in the field. Following the acclaimed Time Honored, this book presents contemporary practice on a country-by-country and region-by-region basis, facilitating comparative analysis of similarities and differences. The book stresses solutions in architectural heritage protection and the contexts in which they were developed.

Wiley; 1 edition (April 5, 2011)

 

Julio transcending architecture coverBermudez
Transcending Architecture: Contemporary Views on Sacred Space

How should we construct sacred spaces, the places where we worship? Transcending Architecture considers the mysterious, profound, and real power of designed environments to address the spiritual dimension of our humanity. By incorporating perspectives from within and without architecture, the book offers a wide, critical, and nuanced understanding of the lived relationship between the built and the numinous worlds.

Far from avoiding the charged issues of subjectivity, culture and intangibility, the book examines phenomenological, symbolic and designerly ways in which the holy gets fixed and experienced through buildings, landscapes, and urban forms, and not just in institutionally defined religious or sacred places. This book thus provides, on one hand, understanding, relief, and growth to an architectural discipline that usually avoids its ineffable dimension and, on the other hand, a necessary dose of detail and reality to fields such as theological aesthetics, material anthropology, or philosophical phenomenology that too often fall trapped into unproductive generalizations and over-intellectualizations.

The Catholic University of America Press (February 16, 2015)