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101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
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Concise lessons in design, drawing, the creative process, and presentation, from the basics of "How to Draw a Line" to the complexities of color theory.
This is a book that students of architecture will want to keep in the studio and in their backpacks. It is also a book they may want to keep out of view of their professors, for it expresses in clear and simple language ...more
This is a book that students of architecture will want to keep in the studio and in their backpacks. It is also a book they may want to keep out of view of their professors, for it expresses in clear and simple language ...more
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Hardcover, 212 pages
Published
August 31st 2007
by MIT Press
(first published December 31st 2006)
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Start your review of 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
We've all heard that we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover--but as with wine bottles, the cover may not be the whole story, but it's not irrelevant either. In this case, the unfinished cardboard front cover, embossed type juxtaposed with pen drawing, classic red/black/white color scheme, and chunky horizontal layout all suggest, rightly, that Mr. Frederick has an aesthetic voice worth listening to. The structure of the book's content--illustrative sketch on the left, general principle
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I read this book before I started architecture school, and re-read it in the break between each semester. Each time I find something new that I had learned, and it helps encourage me when I'm in a design funk.
It's a relatively quick read, but for those like me who are sometimes overwhelmed by the stress of the design process, it's invaluable. One of the must-read architecture books for any student.
It's a relatively quick read, but for those like me who are sometimes overwhelmed by the stress of the design process, it's invaluable. One of the must-read architecture books for any student.
Another book designed for architects but containing useful ideas for designers of every discipline.
It contains 101 concise concepts you can absorb and bring to your own work. Ideas like how being able to improve your creative process can be more valuable that the actual output of a specific project, or how that the beauty of a composition is more about the harmony of the elements than the specific elements themselves.
It contains 101 concise concepts you can absorb and bring to your own work. Ideas like how being able to improve your creative process can be more valuable that the actual output of a specific project, or how that the beauty of a composition is more about the harmony of the elements than the specific elements themselves.
Useful tips, even if you're not an architect. "Draw lines with bold beginnings and ends", "windows appear dark during the day", "beauty has more to do with the harmonious connection between parts of a composition rather than with the parts themselves", "a good building reveals different aspects of itself when viewed from different distances", "less is more // less is boring", "in winter, people have a width of 61cm. In summer, it's 56cm".
I find Thing 101 especially encouraging for I feel it ...more
I find Thing 101 especially encouraging for I feel it ...more
This book was introduced to me by a senior professor on his facebook wall during my second year of college,i ignored it then but later after couple of years i got to go through it, and at once i was impressed by the total idea of this book. This is indeed 101 most fundamental things one is supposed to learn from an architectural school, but sadly i feel the priority set in university syllabuses in my country failed to promote such fundamentals, so i would recommend this book to every budding
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Dear Reader,
As a future Architecture student who has taken some design classes in my nearest community classes, I find this book honest, insightful, and slightly comedic about what really happens to student in Architecture school. I find myself nodding and giggling at every "thing". It was just hilarious. It was very helpful too. It made me realize that I'm not alone in my thoughts and feelings about this area of study. I was actually beaming when I turn page after page. This is a very clever ...more
As a future Architecture student who has taken some design classes in my nearest community classes, I find this book honest, insightful, and slightly comedic about what really happens to student in Architecture school. I find myself nodding and giggling at every "thing". It was just hilarious. It was very helpful too. It made me realize that I'm not alone in my thoughts and feelings about this area of study. I was actually beaming when I turn page after page. This is a very clever ...more
I have to preface this by saying that I am not an architect nor did I study architecture in school. However, architecture is one of my more passionate avocations. I am pretty sure I want to be an architect in my next life. Now to the book. I really loved it. Each chapter (a two-page spread with an illustration on the left page and one-to-three paragraphs of text on the right page) focuses on a given concept that is important in architecture. Some of the chapters feature appropriate quotes. There
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What a great book, suitable for any arts student. My proper review (with pics of pages) is here: https://patricksherriff.com/2019/09/0...
Nov 18, 2017
Ben
added it
This book was recommended as professional reading for game design. It was an enjoyable read and touched on some closely related subjects, but I would place it, personally, in my second order of game design reading, and not in the first order with books like The Design of Everyday Things. I think that for anyone practicing level or environmental design, this book would be more fundamentally useful as a quick line into architecture itself. For game design in general, I found the lessons to be
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101 Things I Learned in Architecture School It's not long, or an extensive textbook. It's really an interesting helpful book full of amazing tips! a quick read and quite literal. It isn't as "in-depth" as other architecture books.What's a "parti?" What is "postmodernism"? What do positive and negative space have to do with anything? Those and a lot more and more, plus some well chosen quotes give you a lot to think about and build upon! I loved every page! <3I am an architecture student, and
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I took so many screen-shots for my students. A simple yet informative book.
I wish I have read this book after the 1st or 2nd year in Architecture, but it's never too late to read it or re read it
My Dad: "I'm AIA, LEED certified and I've been practicing for 30 years."
Me: "But have you read this??"
Me: "But have you read this??"
I thought this book was going to be one of those atypical 101 lists of things that one can common sense-sically come out with even with a basic understanding of architecture. But boy was I wrong. Even though the lists were sometimes short and cryptic in nature, it is indeed insightful and interesting to note some of the aspects that have been deemed important enough to in the list. What is interesting too is the idea that a significant majority of those in the lists are also conceptually
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This one is more for architecture students than anyone else. The main problem is that if you haven't gone through architecture school, the often contradictory and terse advice in this book won't make much sense. It ends up being a series of motivational posters of a boat if you don't have the background in some kind of design field. But for those who are designers, this is a great thing to flip open and remind ourselves of the years of training we have.
Great read for all Architecture students.
I related to the things mentioned and I agree with most of it. I can reread this over and over again and enjoy it; quite simple and written in a lighthearted way... Makes me love my major even more.
I related to the things mentioned and I agree with most of it. I can reread this over and over again and enjoy it; quite simple and written in a lighthearted way... Makes me love my major even more.
It's a very useful book, not just for beginners but also for those who need to be constantly reminded with this stuff.
I know nothing about architecture so I liked this book because the ideas were new to me, e.g.:
Draw a line with emphasis at the beginning and end, overlap lines slightly where they meet to keep corners from looking rounded -- don't erase guide lines.
We move through negative spaces and dwell in positive spaces
PARTI central idea or concept of building
most architectural forms can be described as additive (assembled from indiv pieces), subtractive (carved from a whole form), shaped or abstract
...more
Draw a line with emphasis at the beginning and end, overlap lines slightly where they meet to keep corners from looking rounded -- don't erase guide lines.
We move through negative spaces and dwell in positive spaces
PARTI central idea or concept of building
most architectural forms can be described as additive (assembled from indiv pieces), subtractive (carved from a whole form), shaped or abstract
...more
I wish I had this book with me when i was an architecture student , it gives an amazing , simple and direct to the point advices , it's actually useful for practitioners too , specially when they are stuck in a problem or lost in the process , and at the end of the book it gives the best pep sentence ( most architects do not hit there professional stride until around age 50 ) ... so there is always hope ..
Concise, creative, and something to refer to over the coming years. Highly recommended.
Not all about architecture, it's about life.
A quick-to-read whirlwind tour of some of the principles of architecture. A smattering:
* Negative and positive spaces and circulation. People move through negative space and dwell in positive spaces.
* "parti" is a word for the big idea that holds together a design, much like an author's thesis.
* Architects work holistically, touching on everything but being an expert in nothing. (Engineers, by contrast, are a deep expert on one particular thing.)
* "Fabric" buildings (ordinary residences and ...more
* Negative and positive spaces and circulation. People move through negative space and dwell in positive spaces.
* "parti" is a word for the big idea that holds together a design, much like an author's thesis.
* Architects work holistically, touching on everything but being an expert in nothing. (Engineers, by contrast, are a deep expert on one particular thing.)
* "Fabric" buildings (ordinary residences and ...more
An essential. I got it as a gift back in high school when I decided I wanted to pursue architecture, and it was a treasure then, even before starting school and knowing what was what. Now, studying in an architectural program, I've gotten an entirely different value out of it. I'm able to relate to the advice and learn from it on a new level. I expect I'll continue to make use of it in different ways in years to come. It's simple, it's clever, it's quick; it's an easy book to pick up for five
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More than a year has pass since I finished college, and in all that time I focused on catching up on my reading for pleasure, and put any architecture related books on hold as a way of detoxing after my thesis. So, when I picked up this book something in me clicked, to the point that I just couldn't put it down.
Overall, excellent read for architecture students and graduates alike. Great way of going back to basics when needed.
Overall, excellent read for architecture students and graduates alike. Great way of going back to basics when needed.
I found this book terrific even though I'm not an architecture but more like an art fan and an artist .. it helped me a lot in understanding the process of designing.. a simple book that can be helpful to anyone who's interesting in this field
I read this book after visiting Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright home in Wisconsin).....my favorite--".....If you can't explain your ideas to your grandmother in terms that she understands, you don't know your subject well enough.....". That applies to more than just architecture!
A wonderful, sensible, inspiring little book for anyone designing anything...or anyone interested in buildings.
Aug 03, 2012
Joni Baboci
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Students of Architecture, Architects
A short, quick and entertaining read - reminding every architecture student of the absurdity of trying to learn what a parti ir what creative process is by google-ing it :D. Nostalgically enjoyed it.
humorous in simple sketch to explain the idea but its nail .Its a worth advice in a simple presentation.
This book gives great insight to the world of architecture. I recently participated in an Architecture academy, many of the points I learned from those classes were explained in the book, as well as new material. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in pursuing architecture as a career. It gives points from drawing suggestions to deeper subjects of a project. Or even how to roll up your work so it flattens easily when you hang it up for display. All in all this gives helpful hints
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descends them. Shape a window to frame a view of a
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“An architect knows something about everything. An engineer knows everything about one thing.”
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