(Part 2) Best architecture and design books according to redditors
We found 3,226 Reddit comments discussing the best architecture and design books. We ranked the 1,481 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I totally love the Christopher Alexander books. Definitely check out his The Timeless Way of Building which is a great companion piece to A Pattern Language. You should know that his works, while great in my opinion, are sort of considered idiosyncratic and not really in the mainstream of architecture/urban design.
Here's a short reading list you should look at:
The Smart Growth Manual and Suburban Nation by Andres Duany & Jeff Speck. Another set of sort-of-companion works, the Manual has a concrete set of recommendations inspired by the critique of modern town planning in Suburban Nation and might be more useful for your purposes.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs is probably the most famous and influential book on city planning ever and contains a lot of really original and thoughtful insights on cities. Despite being over half-a-century old it feels very contemporary and relevant.
The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler is similarly mostly a critique of modernist planning principles but is both short and very well written so I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
Makeshift Metropolis by Witold Rybczynski: I can't recommend this entire book, but it does contain (in my opinion) the best summary of the history of American urban planning. Really useful for a historical perspective on different schools of thought in city design over the years.
The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup is the book on parking policy. It's huge (700+ pages) and very thorough and academic, so it might be harder to get through than the other, more popular-audience-oriented titles on the list, but if you want to include parking as a gameplay element, I really can't recommend it highly enough. It's a problem that's thorny enough most city games just ignore it entirely: Simcity2013's developers say they abandoned it after realizing it would mean most of their players' cities would be covered in parking lots, ignoring that most actual American cities are indeed covered in parking lots.
Finally there's a bunch of great blogs/websites out there you should check out: Streetsblog is definitely a giant in transportation/design blogging and has a really capable team of journalists and a staggering amount of content. Chuck Marohn's Strong Towns blog and Podcast are a great source for thinking about these issues more in terms of smaller towns and municipalities (in contrast to Streetsblog's focus on major metropolitan areas). The Sightline Daily's blog does amazing planning/transpo coverage of the Pacific Northwest. Finally [The Atlantic Cities] (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/) blog has incredible coverage on city-issues around the world.
I hope this was helpful and not overwhelming. It's a pretty big (and in my opinion, interesting) topic, so there's a lot of ground to cover even in an introductory sense.
>The pneumatic tube mail was a postal system operating in New York City from 1897 to 1953 using pneumatic tubes. Following the creation of the first pneumatic mail system in Philadelphia in 1893, New York City's system was begun, initially only between the old General Post Office on Park Row and the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green, a distance of 3,750 feet.
>Eventually the network stretched up both sides of Manhattan Island all the way to Manhattanvilleon the West side and "Triborough" in East Harlem, forming a loop running a few feet below street level. Travel time from the General Post Office to Harlem was 20 minutes. A crosstown line connected the two parallel lines between the new General Post office on the West Side and Grand Central Terminal on the east, and took four minutes for mail to traverse. Utilizing the Brooklyn Bridge a spur line also ran from Church Street in lower Manhattan to the general post office in Brooklyn (now Cadman Plaza) taking four minutes. Operators of the system were referred to as "Rocketeers". Wikipedia
More reading on the Network
From The Works: Anotamy of a City by Kate Ascher
I am just going to say it out right: your portfolio is pretty awful. I'm not saying it to be an ass, but I feel it is something you need to hear. Taking a background image, throwing some Comic Sans on top, and adding a filter does not make for quality design. Let me ask you this: how long did it take you to put together each of those billboards/posters?
I feel that you've hit the point that a lot of aspiring designers hit some point. Photoshop is a tool and only a tool. Knowing how to use it is not enough to make quality work. Its like applying for a plumber job and saying "I know how to use a wrench." Well there is a lot more that goes into being a plumber than using a wrench.
That being said, I think you have a desire to become a better designer and that is the most important trait anyone needs in this field. I would highly recommend going back to school if possible, but I completely understand if money doesn't allow for it. You did mention that you received a "certificate" and not a degree, so I'm inclined to assume that you went a community college of some sorts? If possible see what kind of options you have as far as financial aid. There is no harm in sitting down and talking with an advisor.
If school is out of the question then I always recommend books. Personally, I love books. Two that come to mind are:
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Graphic-Design-School/dp/0470466510/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=FRZXS10RRWDE&coliid=I28L555PEYQUH
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-The-New-Basics/dp/1568987021/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=FRZXS10RRWDE&coliid=I30NDZDNI7972D
My challenge to you is to grab a pen and paper and look through the table of contents on Amazon (especially the second one). Then write down everything you know about each chapter of the book. This should give you a decent self-assessment of where you need to start.
Strunk and White's The Elements of Style
Salvadori's Why Buildings Stand Up and Why Buildings Fall Down
Tufte's Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative , especially the excerpt Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions.
In this exact order:
Love this! I am actually doing a personal challenge where I am building each type of house.
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This is another great resource, goes in depth!
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825
Sounds like what you want is Virginia Savage McAlester's book A Field Guide to American Houses.
She walks you through each style that is found in the US, explains the key features of each and give well drawn diagrams and photographic examples of each. Really well done.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825
I'd add The Timeless Way of Building ( www.amazon.com/dp/0195024028 ) to this list, especially for level design purposes - not only does it provide a fairly gentle introduction to the notion of design patterns, it's also a great way of understanding some of the specifics behind how architecture affects people emotionally and how particular building patterns evoke particular moods.
I was thinking the same thing. But, your comment also reminded me of this book that taught me quite a bit, and well, you might enjoy too:
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Fall-Down-Structures/dp/039331152X
>Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail
>The authors examine buildings of all kinds, from ancient domes like Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to the state-of-the-art Hartford Civic Arena. Their subjects range from the man-caused destruction of the Parthenon to the earthquake damage of 1989 in Armenia and San Francisco.
One thing they cover is how buildings need to be able to flex as well.
I still agree with you, and I do wonder how badly damaged most tiny homes would be if they had to travel a mile down a rural road or the same mile over a pothole ridden downtown. This bus conversion too.
Do not have any CAM software in your shop, or are just doing this one job by hand to learn? If it's the former then that's disappointing because there are many inexpensive CAM programs for simple 2D stuff .
If it's the latter, then a really good book would be CNC Programming Handbook by Peter Smid. It covers damn near everything about CNC milling and turning, from machine kinematics to G-Code.
I was looking into being an architect before I got into Computer Engineering. It is very surprising how universal interaction design is.
The psychology of how humans work is just as useful in designing floorplans as it is in designing websites.
In Computer Science, the idea of "design patterns" actually originated from the writings of a building architect: http://www.amazon.com/The-Timeless-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028
There's a book called Building Construction Illustrated that should get you started.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470087811/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
I'm no expert, but I do have a copy of A Field Guide of American Houses. So with that caveat, my guess is that this is a modern (read: millennium mansion) interpretation of the classical Georgian style house with a center-gabled roof.
> Identifying Features: Paneled front door, usually centered and capped by an elaborate decorative crown (entablature) supported by decorative pilasters (flattened columns); usually with a row of small rectangular panes of glass beneath the crown, either within the door or in a transom just above; cornice usually emphasized by decorative moldings, most commonly with tooth-like dentils; windows with double-hung sashes having many small panes (most commonly nine or twelve panes per sash) separated by thick wooden muntins; windows aligned horizontally and vertically in symmetrical rows, never in adjacent pairs, usually five-ranked on front facade, less commonly three-or seven-ranked.
It's always been like this... I think someone should take the Field Guide to American Houses and create a Style Flowchart, like a Taxonmy Diagram, and we can link to it in the sidebar. 99% of the time the house has no style, and falls into the category of "Contractor's Choice".
pick up any francis ching book. they are wonderfully illustrated and quite helpful.
Just Micron Ink pen (.2) on Bristol 90 lb (11"x17") paper.
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/351/f/c/fcf3f9a79b3529bb4cff934c3d22dd72-d6yc70i.jpg
Then scan it into photoshop and color it. There are a lot of videos about how to color in PS, so I will leave that to them.
Drawing with ink on paper is mostly practice. I would recommend this book - Rendering in Pen and Ink.
I have "The Field Guide to American Houses" by Virgina Savage McAlester and use it pretty often. :-)
https://smile.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538584655&sr=8-1&keywords=field+guide+to+american+houses
The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich. Reads like a novel, takes you from cave paintings to modern day.
> have yet to understand how everything here works.
try this book which explains how NYC's various infrastructure systems work.
There’s a great book, Why Buildings Stand Up, and its follow up, Why Buildings Fall Down.
edit: added links to Amazon, and switched the chronology.
Dreyfuss' Measure Of Man & Woman is the standard anthropometrics book in industrial design; it should give you all the specs you need for manual tools & controllers: https://www.amazon.com/Measure-Man-Woman-Factors-Design/dp/0471099554
That's the only book I really use, but it also might be useful to poke around on some physical therapy sites to get an idea of common hand injuries & the general anatomy, if you think the controller could cause any risk of a repetitive strain injury. IME physical therapists publish a ton of stuff online & generally have a lot of solid practical knowledge of what issues are most common.
Outside of that, we rely a lot on just model making & testing. Get a couple people with really big hands (usually ~95th men's percentile) & a couple with really small hands (usually ~5th P women's), make a stack of vaguely plausible prototypes, and have them tell you what works for them. I honestly sometimes start these by just squishing playdough around until it feels like it fits.
I certainly consider A Little History of the World an essential read. It's basically a summary of the human history, from cavemen to the end of WWI over 300 easily read pages. He touches on all major events, and touches upon most religions in a very easy to follow and fun writing style. It's essentially a World History for dummies if you will, but is still a very interesting read. one of those books I plan to buy future kids. Highly recommended! he also has a similar book - The Story of Art - but this is a lot bigger and more advanced, requires an actual interest in art history.
There are some options. Woodblock is the "simplest". If this is really by Beardsley, then he would have likely made a stencil cutout to cover and block his drawing, and then washed with black ink OR had a crazy steady hand and done it with a brush. You can also got over top any goofs with white gouache, if you're not too worried about people getting close to it. Nowadays, if you're using ink, you can paint the areas you want to keep white with rubber cement. Once it dries, you wash over it with the ink (still try to avoid soaking the "white" areas), and then rub the rubber cement off again once everything's dry. Have to be using the appropriate paper, though. If you haven't already, get a copy of "Rendering in Pen & Ink".
They are no longer sold in the parks, but I got one of these books about each park on Amazon.
The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World--Updated! (An Imagineering Field Guide) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423124685/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_V2nEAb9ESJWFM
This book is awesome as well.
Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making More Magic Real https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423107667/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_G5nEAbWCYDX57
Here's a little list of best-sellers on Amazon and a few from this thread:
As someone who recently purchased A Field Guide to American Houses for personal reading (and to figure out what house style I've always liked but not known the name of), this is amazing. Great work!
Cathedral by David Macauley?
Or if not that, check out his other works.
Francis Ching has some good reference books for a starter: Building construction illustrated and Architecture: Form Space and Order. It might be a good idea to regularly visit sites like ArchDaily to see what contemporary architects are doing. If you want to start learning design programs, try downloading SketchUp or Rhino (both have free versions). Good luck!
Sound like you need A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
The Measure of Man and Women is a very good reference, though the data may be outdated now. Link
H-Point is very good as well, although it focuses on cars and transportation Link
I'd recommend Donald Normans "The Design of Everyday Things" too, as it goes into the psychology of products and how we use them. Not ergonomics specifically, but very useful to learn about. Link
This is a pretty good one, as is this
I think you were successful getting different textures, so nice job. As general advice I would say try to leave more white areas for contrast. This requires a lot of restraint, especially when drawing dark things like leather and fur and sunburned, wrinkly dudes but the limitations of ink demand it. This may mean you have to invent a strong light source and imply things without actually stating them.
I know that sounds cryptic so if you want some examples look at the work of Joseph Clement Coll. He was great at getting all kinds of textures with just the pen and brush. Also there is a great book called Rendering in Pen and Ink that goes into great detail. As of this post it looks like there are some used copies, hardback, for $6. Worth ten times that if you are interested in inking.
It's basic pen-and-ink drawing; utilizing stippling, feathering, hatching and cross-hatching techniques. It was definitely drawn by hand - either with analog tools or digital software. It's an old method, as old as ink and quill pens at least. Arthur Guptill's book is one of the best regarded on the subject.
I'm currently doing school for my 4th year in my apprenticeship. My professor has and highly recommends CNC machining handbook by Peter Smid. I'll find a link
CNC Programming Handbook https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FN5MAb15GGWZ6
He says it explains CNC programming in an easy to understand manner. I kinda want it myself because I'm with you, g code is rough for me lol
I have this one on my book shelf, it's pretty good.
Hey, I'm not too sure how much I can help with the college choices, I come from a different country so I don't know enough about that, but I am big on learning things myself and if you'd like to strengthen your knowledge in graphic design, maybe even while studying, here are some awesome books to get yourself going in the right direction:
Meggs' History of graphic design: I love this book. before I bought it I found another on design as a whole but this is specifically related to graphic design. with a lot of briefs it helps to know what kind of association your font choice will create, and it's useful to look back at old graphic design to see if there's something you can re-purpose for your brief. if that's the case, this book is for you. Megg doesn't leave anything out too! it starts all the way back from the beginnings of written language!
The A - Z of Visual Ideas: How to Solve any Creative Brief: Imagery is almost as important to a brief as type. You'll need to be able to create something that grabs attention and gets a message across as quick as possible. If you're having trouble finding a way to express an idea, flip open this book and page through countless ways you could do it.
How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul: Work experience is the best kind of learning there is. and if you feel like you're lost when you begin, this book will be your faithful mentor. There's a lot about freelancing and starting your agency too, it's just invaluable all around.
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design: If you'd like to become a web designer, this is a good book to start with. I'm an experienced web designer so I find some of the points a bit obvious, but I found a lot to learn all the same.
I don't like to waste time when it comes to learning things through the books I've bought so I can tell you first hand that these books are absolutely useful and won't just waffle on about what successful agencies have done. I'd also like to let you know that one of the finest graphic designers my previous agency had was a guy who came straight from high school and just really loved doing graphic design. When he left, he left a huge space to fill. On the other hand, I've met designers with honours degrees who didn't stay for longer than a year. But get a degree if you can, it helps to get your foot in the door. Getting a masters is awesome, and if you went magna cum laude I'm sure you would knock it out the park :) you aren't over your head in the slightest.
If I had to choose one I would go with How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. There is a lot of books on design theory but this one focuses on everyday problems of designers, wether you are student or creative director in your own agency, with very direct and specific answers and solutions.
http://www.amazon.com/Works-Anatomy-City-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708
Interaction Design
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Lighting Design
Product Design
Product Design
Sound Design
Urban Design
* Cities for People by Jan Gehl
Web Design
I highly suggest purchasing resource books on urban design, urban planning, and city structure. I will list some for you. I like to keep the aid of resource books in my personal library collection, and I am finding that urban planning resource books are helping me greatly in my world-building process.
I highly suggest looking into the life work of urban planner and MIT lecturer Kevin A. Lynch. He studied how urban environments are heavily shaped and influenced by fundamental human values and perceptions. Cities reflected directly those whom lived within them according to Lynch.
Here is a list of books as well as a link to their Amazon page:
Provided on each page is a wide variety of other resource books depending on the time period you are aiming on world-building around. I hope this helped.
Kevin Lynch's Image of the City
what the OP said is pretty spot on, after all he drew this, but if you want somewhere to start this book as been hailed as one of the best for learning how to draw in pen and ink
This ☜ is a bunch of awesome tutorials that cover a lot of different styles and maybe even 4 out of the 5 things you are looking out for in books.
Rendering in Pen and Ink is really awesome and covers basics about perspectives and everything from basics to expert level stuff. It'll really orient you to a technical view on drawing.
EDIT: also whatever u/MouthOfTheGiftHorse said. Learn something new everyday. Anything extra you can do puts you ahead in your career.
A personal favorite
If you're at all interested in the building of Il Duomo di Firenze, I'd highly recommend the book Brunelleschi's Dome
https://www.amazon.com/Works-Anatomy-City-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708
It's a picture book, but I really like "The Works" by Kate Ascher. It's not something you would study from, but it's beautifully made.
The Timeless Way of Building
This book, and the teachings of the author, is often cited as the inspiration for Design Patterns. I love this book. It's a great book on design in general, and reading it sheds light on how Design Patterns are best understood.
You could always check out A Pattern Language: http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199 or a Timeless Way of Building : http://www.amazon.com/The-Timeless-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028
Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City
a relatively short read, but discusses ideas of "imageability" central to urban design and planning
The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell is very very good.
Game AI (Millington and Funge new edition iirc) is very very good.
Some non-game-design books that are very useful for those doing game design:
Scott McLoud: Making Comics (the other two in the series are good but the section on plot, characterization, and development in this one is great)
Donald Norman: The Design of Everyday Things. (How design works and how people interact with technology and...)
Christopher Alexander et al A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, and Construction (Thinking about scale and design elements and modularity and...)
Kevin Lynch: The Image of the City (How do urban spaces work - essential if your game is set in a city - how do people actually navigate)
Polti: The 36 Dramatic Situations (old, quirky, examines how there are really only a few human plots)
Matt Frederick: 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School (how to think about and execute simple art, improve your design sense, ...)
Very cool how much you want to support him.
The biggest misconception about the industry is probably how little math we actually use. There is of course a spectrum to our field that spans from sculptors and artists to programmers and engineers. By and large, however, we are visual people who hone our skills by practicing art. I was happily surprised in my first term of college to find out how much time we'd spend sketching and drafting. Hopefully that's appealing to him!
As far as what skills to learn: I took a CAD drafting class in high school that gave me a good head start in college. Sketchup is easy to pick up and I'd encourage him to get comfortable with Rhino to really be able to model digitally. I would not recommend Revit at this early stage as it's extremely technical. Physical modeling is also helpful. I grew up on Legos before moving to paper / cardstock / cardboard sketch modeling. Messy and fast and gives three-dimensional insight you can't get from a page or a screen, plus having the ability to make clean models is a great way to impress professors early on.
Regarding reading material. These books made an enormous impression on me:
I would highly recommend each and every one to him. All very approachable reading for a 14 year old already sketching commercial spaces.
And Bjark Ingel's Yes is More is a fun read in graphic novel form.
Lastly— reach out to your local AIA chapter. They can connect you and your brother with resources specific to your area including firms to check out / potentially shadow at, scholarships to apply for, and summer programs and other workshops to attend.
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Best of luck to you both! It's quite a journey and a rewarding one if it fits.
I'm happy to talk more if you'd like to message me.
My book that I go back to again and again is A Field Guide to American Homes. It has lots of pictures of each style, as well as drawings of details and information on the overall shapes used in the various styles. The 1984 edition is also available for just a few dollars. It's also very good, but it doesn't have the chapters on recent developments (like McMansions), as well as a chapter on how to choose appropriate detailing for what the author refers to as "new traditional" homes. Anyone building a house should read that chapter.
Here's another engineering primer book: Why buildings stand up
Easily accompanied by: Why Buildings Fall Down
This book is an excellent explanation of the fundamentals of architecture.
Anything structural/architectural is going to be a little tough at that age/price. For toys, the best I can think of is a K'Nex Bridge Set which explains some good structural principles. Unfortunately it's designed for grades 3-5.
Maybe Why Buildings Stand Up and Why Buildings Fall Down? They're a fun book combo that explains a lot of basic architecture and what happens when things go wrong. Gets a little technical but a high school student interested in physics should be able to get through it.
If you think he might be interested in computers/electrical, an Arduino starter kit would be fantastic
You can try Why Buildings Stand Up if you are interested in structural or architectural engineering. If I recall correctly, there is at least one chapter on the basics of statics which any engineer would take (but not necessarily use).
If your just looking for a quick read on the subject this book will fill you in...
TL;DR;
Boils down to the fact that a plane flying into the side of a building does pack one hell of a kinetic wallop with enough energy to rip the plane apart and peel away the fire proofing around the steel columns...
Add burning jet-fuel and the large weight of the remaining floors above and they are bound to fail. The beams don't need to melt but will be likely to fail since the material will be weaker with the increase in temperature.
Then you get the extra oompfh from the floors falling downwards and the building has a complete failure.
I would urge you to read Henry Petroski's Design Paradigms along with Levy and Salvadori's Why Buildings Fall Down. Resolving questions of structural failure is not a simple matter of fact checking and can actually ride on theories which engineers did not know were correct (or correct under all circumstances) until after multiple failures.
I am in complete agreement with the notion that the liberal arts and hard sciences have differences. However those differences are not nearly so stark as you suggest. Further, it is difficult for me to find an incentive to join the discussion on epistemology if your framing forecloses the bulk of my argument.
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail.
Have you checked out /r/woodworking?
Depending where you live you could probably find some wood working classes. And as you probably know there are a ton of woodworking channels on YouTube explaining how to make all sorts of things.
Have you studied Japanese Timberfaming at all. That's a pretty neat mix of architecture and wood working.
If you want to learn some softwares SketchUp would be a good start, you should be able to find a way to get it for free as a Student, maybe a teacher could help. There is also Revit and AutoCad you can find good courses for a lot of these things on Lynda or Udemy or just YouTube, there is Blender for 3D modeling also, which is free and has lots of lesson on YouTube.
If you are interested in the structural things there are these two books you might like: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Fall-Down-Structures/dp/039331152X
If you want feedback on your work post it here, most people are pretty polite and give good feedback. If you look through past posts you will see a lot of students showing their work or sketches.
Have you considered asking an architect if you can hang out at their office?
Getting a weekend job at a construction company? Just hanging at a job site and cleaning you would learn a lot.
As another person posted the DK Ching books are a great place to start.
You might also look up 30x40 Design, Matt Risinger/The Build Show, and Timeless Homes on YouTube.
If you find yourself looking for anything specific or a book on some topic feel free to PM anytime.
Fixed link.
For more technical, structural explanations and drawings Building Structures Illustrated and Building Construction Illustrated are both extremely helpful.
For a first project, this looks really good. Others have said some of the stuff that I'm going to say, but there's a couple other comments I haven't seen others make.
First, learn how to export images. Every arch program I've used has the ability to do this and it makes things look much nicer than taking a picture of a screen, which leads me to...
Learn how to Google efficiently. If you don't know how to do something, think of what you're trying to do, take the keywords out of it ("I want to build a wall that is sloped outward in Google Sketchup" turns into "slope wall sketchup"). In high school, I ended up knowing the programs we used better than my teacher because of this. Now in college, I am one of 3 out of about 125 that everyone goes to for help with programs. About 50% of the stuff they ask I don't know, but I can Google it and find an answer in under a minute.
Now, for the design itself. It's important that every design decision you make, you ask "why?" If you cannot fully justify it, think of a couple alternatives, and choose the best option. Then at the very least your reason would be "I explored a few options and determined this was the best solution." Sure, some will be able to argue it, but you have a reason. Always try and push it though. For instance, why did you choose wood planks for part of your facade? Is it because it looks good or because you had a location in mind and it matches the style of that location?
Next, materiality on facades. My general rule of thumb I use is one main material, one accent material (larger amounts of glazing would count, simple windows like you have would not). When you start having more than that, it starts to look rather busy and can be distracting. But like in the last paragraph, try to have a reason for the material. Pick a location for the building, learn the style and material of the location, and design with that in mind.
Finally, it's never too early to start learning about how buildings are actually constructed. If you can, get access to books by Francis Ching. If they are available at your library, check them out. If not, they're relatively cheap ($20-$30 each iirc). Building Construction Illustrated, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order, and A Visual Dictionary of Architecture are three books I highly recommend to get started on. It will help you understand how buildings are actually put together (and provide tips like nominal construction so you aren't doing things like cutting a CMU in half so that it fits). I notice a few things (such as being able to see the outlines of your stairs from the outside) that you want to watch for so they don't show up. This can be solved by understanding where different elements stop, how they're connected to each other, etc.
So, like I said, this looks really good. Starting at 15 is awesome, I started when I was 16 and now I'm applying to some of the top grad schools in the US, so definitely keep at it! One last tip, if you haven't already, start sketching/drawing by hand. It's an invaluable skill to have and will help you immensely if you decide to study architecture. Even if it's drawing one object a day, just spend 10-15 minutes every day sketching things out. You'll be surprised how much you improve just from practice in even a month.
Can't recommend enough "Francis D.K. Ching - A Visual Dictionary of Architecture : 2nd Edition"
It's an exceptional book that covers a wide variety of very well illustrated, no-nonsense, single sentence descriptions of everything you could think of when it comes to construction & even includes some slang use, I have a searchable eBook copy if anyone's interested (PM me for a Google Drive link) but I would highly recommend supporting the author and purchasing a paperback copy for your own use.
Edit: Here's an example image of a page that specifically mentions fly rafters: https://i.imgur.com/D6le772.png
Every page of the book contains illustrations like this!
Always start with Gombrich!
My family has this book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Art-H-Gombrich/dp/0714832472/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321891500&sr=1-1
which is a very good comprehensive introduction to art history, from the first evidence of creativity in pre-history to contemporary artists, with loads of lovely full page illustrations. This is the one I would go for if you're looking for a general overview.
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Art-H-Gombrich/dp/0714832472
I would recommend Rendering in Pen and Ink, as it covers this kind of art, as well as a ton of other things you can do with pen & ink.
I bought my copy about 25 years ago, and I still use it for reference on a regular basis.
Note: it's also handy for brush & ink.
Peter Smid CNC Programming book
Further reading/research: (Not all of which I've gotten to read yet. Some of which may be quite tangentially relevant to the discussion at hand along with the books and sites I mentioned above. Consider this more a list of books pertaining to the history of technology, machining, metrology, some general science and good engineering texts.)
Dan Gelbart's Youtube Channel
Engineerguy's Youtube Channel
Nick Mueller's Youtube Channel
mrpete222/tubalcain's youtube channel
Tom Lipton (oxtools) Youtube Channel
Suburban Tool's Youtube Channel
NYCNC's Youtube Channel
Computer History Museum's Youtube Channel
History of Machine Tools, 1700-1910 by Steeds
Studies in the History of Machine Tools by Woodbury
A History of Machine Tools by Bradley
Tools for the Job: A History of Machine Tools to 1950 by The Science Museum
A History of Engineering Metrology by Hume
Tools and Machines by Barnard
The Testing of Machine Tools by Burley
Modern machine shop tools, their construction, operation and manipulation, including both hand and machine tools: a book of practical instruction by Humphrey & Dervoort
Machine-Shop Tools and Methods by Leonard
A Measure of All Things: The Story of Man and Measurement by Whitelaw
Handbook of Optical Metrology: Principles and Applications by Yoshizawa
Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon by Gray
Machine Shop Training Course Vol 1 & 2 by Jones
A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882-1982
Numerical Control: Making a New Technology by Reintjes
History of Strength of Materials by Timoshenko
Rust: The Longest War by Waldman
The Companion Reference Book on Dial and Test Indicators: Based on our popular website www.longislandindicator.com by Meyer
Optical Shop Testing by Malacara
Lost Moon: The Preilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Lovell and Kruger
Kelly: More Than My Share of It All by Johnson & Smith
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Rich & Janos
Unwritten Laws of Engineering by King
Advanced Machine Work by Smith
Accurate Tool Work by Goodrich
Optical Tooling, for Precise Manufacture and Alignment by Kissam
The Martian: A Novel by Weir
Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain by Young Budynas & Sadegh
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design by Ashby
Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer by Shute
Cosmos by Sagan
Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook by Smith Carol Smith wrote a number of other great books such as Engineer to Win.
Tool & Cutter Sharpening by Hall
Handbook of Machine Tool Analysis by Marinescu, Ispas & Boboc
The Intel Trinity by Malone
Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Thompson
A Handbook on Tool Room Grinding
Tolerance Design: A Handbook for Developing Optimal Specifications by Creveling
Inspection and Gaging by Kennedy
Precision Engineering by Evans
Procedures in Experimental Physics by Strong
Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes or How They Did it in the 1870's by Dick
Flextures: Elements of Elastic Mechanisms by Smith
Precision Engineering by Venkatesh & Izman
Metal Cutting Theory and Practice by Stephenson & Agapiou
American Lathe Builders, 1810-1910 by Cope As mentioned in the above post, Kennth Cope did a series of books on early machine tool builders. This is one of them.
Shop Theory by Henry Ford Trade Shop
Learning the lost Art of Hand Scraping: From Eight Classic Machine Shop Textbooks A small collection of articles combined in one small book. Lindsay Publications was a smallish company that would collect, reprint or combine public domain source material related to machining and sell them at reasonable prices. They retired a few years ago and sold what rights and materials they had to another company.
How Round Is Your Circle?: Where Engineering and Mathematics Meet by Bryant & Sangwin
Machining & CNC Technology by Fitzpatrick
CNC Programming Handbook by Smid
Machine Shop Practice Vol 1 & 2 by Moltrecht
The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles A fantastic book with tons of free online material, labs, and courses built around it. This book could take a 6th grader interested in learning, and teach them the fundamentals from scratch to design a basic computer processor and programming a simple OS etc.
Bosch Automotive Handbook by Bosch
Trajectory Planning for Automatic Machines and Robots by Biagiotti & Melchiorri
The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals by Zhu, Zienkiewicz and Taylor
Practical Treatise on Milling and Milling Machines by Brown & Sharpe
Grinding Technology by Krar & Oswold
Principles of Precision Engineering by Nakazawa & Takeguchi
Foundations of Ultra-Precision Mechanism Design by Smith
I.C.S. Reference Library, Volume 50: Working Chilled Iron, Planer Work, Shaper and Slotter Work, Drilling and Boring, Milling-Machine Work, Gear Calculations, Gear Cutting
I. C. S. Reference Library, Volume 51: Grinding, Bench, Vise, and Floor Work, Erecting, Shop Hints, Toolmaking, Gauges and Gauge Making, Dies and Die Making, Jigs and Jig Making
and many more ICS books on various engineering, technical and non-technical topics.
American Machinists' Handbook and Dictionary of Shop Terms: A Reference Book of Machine-Shop and Drawing-Room Data, Methods and Definitions, Seventh Edition by Colvin & Stanley
Modern Metal Cutting: A Practical Handbook by Sandvik
Mechanical Behavior of Materials by Dowling
Engineering Design by Dieter and Schmidt
[Creative Design of Products and Systems by Saeed]()
English and American Tool Builders by Roe
Machine Design by Norton
Control Systems by Nise
That doesn't include some random books I've found when traveling and visiting used book stores. :)
Walt Disney's Disneyland is an incredibly comprehensive history of the original park. While it includes plenty of concept art it features many historical photos, planning documents, construction photos etc as well as taking the most detailed approach to the story of the park's construction and updates I've seen.
Walt Disney Imagineering is a good companion with a stronger focus on World, but this is more specific ride histories and designs than the overall park.
The Art of Walt Disney is a fantastic top to bottom look at the history of the studios and company, with plenty of amazing illustrations but is obviously art driven.
DisneyWar (already mentioned) is the seminal account of the Eisner era specifically and takes the word "comprehensive" to new heights.
The Walt Disney Studios (releasing this Sept) promises to be an excellent account of the film studios themselves and movies developed there.
As others have touched on there is a little bit of a vacuum for works that are just written histories, most have to get wrapped around "art" in some capacity to justify all of these books being $60+ 300 page hardcovers.
I, uh, actually did that before, about two years back because I was trying to get enough to do it for a Grade 12 art project. They replied that because some people in the past have tried to sell Fastpasses online despite the fact that they can't be used the day after they are gotten. Thus, while they appreciated the fact that I wanted to use the fastpasses for an art project, they coudn't comply due to scamming on auction sites in the past.
They did, however, send me a nice photo signed by mickey, a letter wishing me the best, and a very nice hardcover book whose name I can't remember. It was about Imagineers and Disney World, and had an entire section on the specific dimensions of the front of the Castle. Had a bunch of little delicate pages that were in protective sleeves inside the book, and the book itself was somewhere between $60 and $80 to buy, so I really appreciated it.
But, yeah, that route isn't something the works for getting fastpasses, though.
EDIT: Found the book they sent me: http://www.amazon.ca/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/1423107667
Fellow Disney book-nerd here! Here are a bunch of my favorites. Hope this helps!
The Art of Animation
The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
Walt Disney Imagineering by The Imagineers
The Disney That Never Was
Paper Dreams: The Art And Artists Of Disney Storyboards
Before the Animation Begins: The Art & Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists
The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast
Lilo & Stitch: Collected Stories From the Film's Creators
Magic Color Flair: The World of Mary Blair
Lovely: Ladies of Animation
Coming soon:
Marc Davis: Walt Disney’s Renaissance Man
The Nine Old Men by Andreas Deja
Disney During World War II: How the Walt Disney Studio Contributed to Victory in the War
This one...
http://www.amazon.com/Dining-Doctor-Unauthorized-Whovian-Cookbook/dp/1481153684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415678173&sr=8-1&keywords=dr+who+cookbook
But really this is just an idea. With all the stuff you have talked about I am sure you can find an amazing gift
Give this a read. How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
Talk to a lawyer, then an accountant, in that order. Don't take advice about starting a business from the internet. I would also recommend getting the book How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, as it has good advice about getting started on the path you are talking about.
On a more practical note, if you are actually turning down work on a regular basis, then you are ready to get started with freelance. Otherwise you may not be able to cover your overhead. Good luck man!
I will post some of my favorite books in a second for you as soon as my computer gets turned on. :)Here are a couple of my favorites from my school "Hey, I actually like these.. I'm going to purchase them!" collection.
General Graphic Design:
Graphic Design: The New Basics
This publication does a great job of showing "relationships between formal elements of two-dimensional design such as point, line, plane, scale, hierarchy, layers, and transparency." If you are looking for a general overview on a lot of subjects within graphic design I think this is a great way to upgrade your vocabulary and general knowledge about graphic design.
Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field
I feel like this book really can help you improve your vocabulary and general knowledge of the graphic design world offering "primary texts from the most important historical and contemporary designthinkers." It's also nice that it offers a bit of history too, analyzing the early 1900s through today.
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop
Great. Absolutely great publication for all designers showing effective use of the grid system and how to layout your compositions. "Effective layout is essential to communication and enables the end user to not only be drawn in with an innovative design but to digest information easily."
Typography: <3
30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime
I loooooove this book. It gives a bit of history and usage examples of 30 amazing typefaces you should know and love.
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students
Another great typography book. This publication was one of my favorites because, at the end of the day, I'm a visual person and this book has SO many visual examples to compliment it's copy it's beautiful. "This revised edition includes ... the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering."
Typographic Systems of Design
This is a very good resource for learning, as the title states, typographic systems. It "explores eight major structural frameworks beyond the gridincluding random, radial, modular, and bilateralsystems." Overall, I feel like this book helped me to improve my positioning and creative use of type in designs.
https://www.amazon.com/Brunelleschis-Dome-Renaissance-Reinvented-Architecture/dp/1620401932
I also highly recommend this book.
For the lazy.
Check out The Works by Kate Asher. It's a ridiculously well illustrated guide to all the different systems (water, power, streets, transit, phone, etc. etc.) that keep New York City running
http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708
That is an awesome idea! I would love to see a documentary like that!
In the meantime, you might want to pick up this book.
I bought this book awhile back because I was in awe of the logistics of huge cities. It's a fascinating read.
Thank you! Gotham is the kind of book that you can read over many times; it's a stellar addition to any library.
The most succinct look at infrastructure in the city that I have read (although I am sure there are others) is Kate Ascher's excellent The Works: Anatomy of a City. Reading that, I learned about all sorts of things I had never even thought about!
I am fascinated by the history of transportation in the city, and particularly by railroads. The portrait of William J. Wilgus that I mentioned in the above comment is one of the best books that I have read in recent memory, and I learned an incredible amount about the process of building tremendous projects like Grand Central, Penn Station and the High Line. Grand Central Terminal is my favorite place in the city, and it was an absolute pleasure to read about how it was planned and constructed (while trains continued to run!). 2013 is the Hundredth Anniversary of the Terminal, and as such the Transit Museum commissioned an interesting history of its predecessors and construction. I also am drawn to the history of the subways, and I have learned much about the system reading material on nycsubway.org and Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations page. In addition to the aforementioned Uptown, Downtown, I am also a big fan of Clifton Hood's 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York.
The other recommendations are solid, and this may be a bit lighter than you want, but The Works by Kate Ascher is a great illustrated book on how the city's infrastructure is put together.
Senior Level Software Engineer Reading List
Read This First
Fundamentals
Development Theory
Philosophy of Programming
Mentality
Software Engineering Skill Sets
Design
History
Specialist Skills
DevOps Reading List
Three architecture books by Christopher Alexander:
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
The Timeless Way of Building
The Oregon Experiment
I'm coming from a game design perspective rather than architect, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've been told (numerous times) to check out the work Christopher Alexander, particularly A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building.
I haven't read either one yet, but they are at the top of my "To Read" list.
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
The Logic of Architecture
[The Social Logic of Space] (http://www.amazon.com/Social-Logic-Space-Bill-Hillier/dp/0521367840/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341518625&amp;sr=1-1)
A Pattern language
The Timeless Way of Building
Symmetry
Symmetry in Science and Art
The Geometry of Environment: An Introduction to Spatial Organization in Design
There is this wonderful book about design:
https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028
Coming back to this, I found my collection of research bookmarks...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_(architecture)
http://portico.space/architecture-concepts
http://portico.space/journal//architectural-concepts-circulation
https://www.pinterest.nz/portico_/concepts-circulation/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263514000375 <-- This one is promising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_plan
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195019199/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195024028/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1 are the origins of software design patterns, but talk about physical architecture. There is a lot of good information in these books.
Buy.
No problem, all the best, it's a fantastic education and career.
One bit of advice though: do it because you love it. Architects do ok, but they don't make a heap of money unless they get famous.
This is a pretty good, realistic look at the profession:
http://www.amazon.com/Architect-Candid-Guide-Profession-Roger/dp/0262621215
Also, check out this guy's YouTube channel:
http://howtoarchitect.com/home/
Lastly, because most architects are enthusiastic about the profession, they are often happy to talk about it and give advice, so it might be worth your while approaching some in your area when you need advice/ work experience.
Read this book Architect?. We read it before school and it helps to lay out what to expect from your classes.
"A Field Guide to American Houses" https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375710825/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_xJwJDbJ6BYDYR
I recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-American-Houses-Revised/dp/0375710825
It has pages on pages of colonial houses. It also calls out design choices that are consistent with the style.
I’m sure you can google or Pinterest more options, but long-term I would be wary of trends.
That house pictured is beautiful though. In going through the process I would start by writing down all your needs for each room based on what you actually do and then when you see interior plans, make sure it does what you want it to.
I took a bunch of statics and structural design courses in college, but remember before I did, I read this book which was helpful.
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Stand-Up-Architecture/dp/0393306763
Take an online statics class, they get into trusses and 0 force members.
I scrolled down just for this. I have fond memories of a co-worker bringing in a book that explained with illustrations how cathedrals were built. It may have been Macaulay. The most impressive thing to me was the hamster-wheel like lift they used to bring materials up to height.
Architecture isn't a very textbook-y kind of field, so there aren't really many authoritative books that are universally used by everyone (other than the IBC).
Francis D. K. Ching is really the only exception to this rule as most schools seem to have incorporated at least one of his books into their curriculum. I would highly recommend the following:
Form Space and Order is a great introductory text that will introduce aspiring architects to some of the basic concepts of architecture.
Building Codes Illustrated relays code information graphically, making it easier to understand. It is not a replacement for the actual code, but it will at least give you an idea of what to look for.
Building Construction Illustrated is arguably the most useful of the three. I continue to refer back to this book even today and I'm not even in school anymore.
Do your grades for your diploma count towards UCAS points? If they do, then it shouldn't be too much of an issue as many universities go by that system and not strictly A Levels. What I would do is visit as many universities as possible, have a look at some of the work students do and ask the tutors. Some universities focus heavily on the technical side of architecture whereas others look towards a more artistic side. If you're getting a diploma on graphic design, then it would probably be best to lean towards the artistically oriented uni's as you might have a better chance with those.
Another thing you should do which is perhaps the most important thing is build up a strong portfolio and try to make it architecture related as possible. Many universities will ask for one and it can make a huge difference. I'd suggest buying an A3 sketchbook and a pencil and just go out and draw. It doesn't necessarily need to be a work of art, it's more about recording, anaylsing and communicating what you see around you. You could also buy a roll of tracing paper and draw some of your own designs over your sketches and photographs.
You could even start making physical models and using programs such as Sketchup to further develop your ideas and add them to your portfolio. If you really wanted to get technical, you could start looking into structure and detailing. Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching and subscribing to Detail Magazine are excellent for this and chances are you'll use them for life as well as throughout university.
It would also be worth looking at other portfolios to help you have an idea of what to include in yours and how to present them. I'd recommend big.dk as a good example, but be sure to look at others. Try to avoid too much writing, your work should speak for itself. When people are looking through portfolios, they're not going to bother reading lots of text so your work needs to stand out.
Good luck!
Design Drawing by Francis Ching
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Drawing-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470533692
He covers perspectives and a host of other architectural drawing types, as well as things like line weight, tone and shading.
Also Architectural Graphics also by Ching.
http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z
This is considered the Bible of architectural graphics and I'm pretty sure it's been a required textbook in most Schools of Architecture since the 1940's.
you need an architectural dictionary. i'm sure some sudent here will have a pdf copy
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Dictionary-Architecture-Landscape-Reference/dp/014051323X
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visual-Dictionary-Architecture-Francis-Ching/dp/0470648856/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465545556&amp;sr=1-6&amp;keywords=francis+dk+ching
Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning
A Global History of Architecture
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Bonus book because I like this firm's concepts:
Yes Is More: An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution - Bjarke Ingels Group
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture might be interesting for them. Loads of good, simple drawings that identify parts of buildings without getting into theory. it might be accessible to a kid, depending on their age.
I appreciate the fact that a real estate agent is trying to learn the proper terms. Often you read listings and it's just absolute garbage and marketing-speak.
Ching's Visual Dictionary of Architecture is always a great starting place and the illustrations are top notch. It's fairly comprehensive and should cover most common features of residential buildings.
This might be a good resource.
This is Bill Hammock's channel but it's missing a lot of videos. He had a bunch when he worked in some kind of office.
Someone else uploaded a mirror of it. He has some humor in the older ones.
I've looked for the book he references as well--The Measure of Man: Human Factors in Design by Henry Dreyfuss--it's expensive. There is a revised edition if you're actually curious about the measurements.
Gombrich - The Story of Art - a classic that takes you through all art periods and styles and gives a clear and interesting explanation. I love this book - it opened my eyes.
Recommended activities (to see which you like):
Art Go to an art gallery and take a look around. There are all sorts of paintings and statues that people have created for thousands of years. See if any appeal. This is best done with knowledge, so try reading an easy book like this, or a more in-depth one like this
Theatre Try going to the theatre and watch a play. I recommend you pick a classic, but for your first one it might be better to pick one in your natural language rather than Shakespeare. Bear in mind, though, that when you get into it, there's a reason Shakespeare is considered amazing.
Cooking Seriously, learn to cook. It's a life skill. You can take classes, but nothing beats picking up a good book and practicing. I'm English, so I don't know much about American cookery books. The one I learned off is this one, by the English cook Nigel Slater, and I heartily recommend it.
Music I'm not personally a fan of classical music, but the aim is to see for yourself what you like. You could do worse than look at this online course. You could also get a cd, like this
Cinema Go buy DVDs of classic film and extend your repertoire. For example, try watching Hitchcock, for example, and ground yourself in a major part of world culture. Note that this, like all the above, will give you a breadth of conversational topics.
Finally Creativity Go and do something that makes you a creator rather than a consumer. I like writing, but you could equally take art classes or learn to play a musical instrument. Being creative will transform your life. If you want to try writing, I recommend nanowrimo and for science fiction writing, this book
Notice what I'm saying with all of the above. The intention is to open your horizons to what other people enjoy, and give you the ability to converse with them fluently. It's also getting rid of the main markers that might hold you back. Ideally, you'll also find something you love, as well, that you might never have considered.
No problem! I have no experience with the UK industry but I can't imagine it's too different:
Hope that helped a bit!
Unfortunately, most of the videos these days are digital mediums. But if you don't already know about it, "Level Up" is a great youtube series. Its mostly digital, but you can learn a lot just by watching the different artists handle the tool. also, if you have any money at all to spend, i highly recommend purchasing the book, "Rendering in Pen and Ink" by Arthur L. Guptil. Heres a link...
http://www.amazon.com/Rendering-Pen-Ink-Techniques-Illustrators/dp/0823045293
I'm still learning myself. This book has been incredibly useful.
CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_S64kDbT3R6PQ6
I had a copy of this when I first started out. CNC Programming Handbook, Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831133473/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_CaO4wbM6APTY9
Try this book
https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Handbook-Third-Peter-Smid/dp/0831133473/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=CNC+Programming+Handbook&amp;qid=1558293186&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1
This book by peter smid is what our mastercam instructor used to teach us the fundamentals. Very basic feeling after you get into the trade but it's necessary. Pm me if you would like to glance at a copy.
Also
u/nine_divines suggestion of the machinist handbook is great, probably the only book I use I. The shop that's not a tooling catalog.
learn G-code, learn how to read blueprints and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, get a good understanding of the cartesian coordinate system and acquire basic machining skills.
If you have a trade school nearby, you can take a course in machine shop, usually they'll have an intro to CNC. This book will teach you everything you need to know about G-code.
I have a couple that I've loved:
Walt Disney Imagineering Behind Dreams
And version 2 of the book:
Walt Disney Imagineering Behind Dreams 2
I've also really enjoyed this one:
Disney Mountains Imagineering at its Peak
If you're looking for things most people won't know. Try the Progress City Primer.
if you're looking for cool things from an Imagineer. Try Designing Disney by John Hench
If you're looking for more of an overview of Imagineering. Try Imagineering Disney.
If you're looking for a light overview of the park through time. Try Disneyland Through the Decades.
It's not about roller coasters specifically, but the Disney Imagineering book is really cool:
https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/1423107667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535950757&sr=8-1&keywords=imagineering
http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/1423107667
I got this for Christmas and it's amazing.
WHO needs this? YOU need it. Why? Because you actually need to eat. Plus, by your own admission you "really like" the Doctor (and you weren't lying - just look at your picture), so you would definitely enjoy having it. And of course, just as you must feed your kitty for your continued enjoyment of said kitty, you must in turn feed yourself for your kitten because kitten would be unhappy without you.
Edit: This may be a tiny bit over the price range, but really it's a bargain, having met all three criteria. See how that works? I just saved you over $15!
This M:TG card is really cheap and helpful to my deck.
This cook book would be fantastic, as I love Doctor Who and would like to expand my repertoire.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1481153684/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1372556337&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=SL75
Just dive in head first. In the summers and after you've graduated, do internships, find mentor programs to be paired with working professionals (AIGA and similar organizations have these), take on freelance gigs - do anything to get some real life experience. The technical prowess you can gain from school is just your toolbox, you need to get working on something to learn how to apply those tools. Plus, doing internships and the like are a great way to get your foot in the door of various design departments, and could lead to a great, steady job.
Also, for a more specific suggestion - I highly recommend the book "How to become a graphic designer without losing your soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy. It is a very well written book about all of the details they never teach you in school - best ways to promote yourself, interview tips, networking, what type of design work environment could be the best fit for you... etc. Not to mention its beautifully designed.
Don't be discouraged by designers you admire, they had to work hard to get to that point as well. Use them as benchmarks and inspiration, and realize that you have a lot of self-motivated work to do before you can enjoy success as well. Hope some of this helped, best of luck! :)
Off the top of my head I can think of How to be a Graphic designer without losing your soul. There's also the extremely famous (though not related to design) How to win friends and Influence people.
Within Australia, budgets for design are closely linked to advertising spend. This means that economic downturns results in downturns for design and vice versa.
Growth has been pretty consistent over a long enough period of time, IBIS World indicates an annual average of 5.36% between 1995 and 2008. The total number of designers in the marketplace has definitely exceeded that rate of growth however, so yes, you are in an over saturated market. Like others have made clear however, focus on your skills and pay attention to trends and you are maximising your chances of weathering it.
The key word you used is 'professional' - you'd be surprised how many people from supposedly top quality insitutions don't conduct themselves professionally.
Have you read How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul?
These are all really great books:
Grid Systems in Graphic Design
Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type
Thinking With Type
Meggs' History of Graphic Design
Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
Don't Make Me Think
The Design of Everyday Things
How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
This is a great book
It's got everything as far as "the stuff that doesn't change" goes
So is the US really relying on softpower, or hardpower to gets it way?
Not at all ignorant, Roman engineering was indeed lost and forgotten during the Dark ages especially when it came to dome-building. Renaissance architecture in fact specifically developed because there was a deliberate study of the left over ruins to try to figure out what they did. The architect of the Duomo, Filippo Brunelleschi spent years doing so along with his friend Donatello in Rome. It remains a mystery how he learned of the technique of laying bricks upside down so they didn't fall down, it is assumed from traders that made it to Florence from the Middleast. May I suggest you read a great little book on this
https://www.amazon.com/Brunelleschis-Dome-Renaissance-Reinvented-Architecture/dp/1620401932
How much do you want to bet that in 100 years, nay 50 years, your kids will be trying to learn Chinese again?
The Works; Anatomy of a City
Not sure if you're into this, but I loved The Works - each chapter tells you how things like water and electricity end up in your house, how traffic works, how the roads are built, et cetera. It's got lots of diagrams and is fun.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Works-Anatomy-Kate-Ascher/dp/0143112708
Christopher Alexander is it! The Timeless Way Of Building was the book I was looking for but you got me headed in the right direction. Thanks!
here you go :)
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Last year of school, eh? What are your plans for next year, then? Are you going to community college, or university? Or do you plan on jumping right into the world of work? Maybe the job market is different where you are, but here, one high school grad in a thousand has a shot at getting an entry-level job with an architectural or engineering firm. Pretty much everybody who hires anybody where I am wants either a trade-specific certification (either the official Autodesk Certification or the local junior college certification) or an AA/AS degree in CAD. So it's off to school for you, maybe...in that case - How do you know that a career in architecture is really what you think it is? Here is my advice: enroll in junior college and take Intro to Architecture ASAP. If the professor is honest, he'll tell you what you're in for: 5 or more years of school, followed by years as an intern, followed by the AREs, which cost a ton and many people fail the first time they take them. Then you are an architect, in a career with surprisingly low pay for such high stress and high levels of required education. If your professor is not honest, read this book:http://www.amazon.com/Architect-A-Candid-Guide-Profession/dp/0262621215 and follow this web comic: http://architexts.us/ . These will ground you in the reality of this field.
Have you ruled out the other other fields of study that utilize CAD? Locally, my students all go to work drawing piping systems or doing electrical drafting. I know, not as sexy as designing a skyscraper, but right now there is record levels of unemployment for persons with a degree in architecture, while other areas in related CAD disciplines have critical shortages. PLEASE consider taking some Drafting & CAD classes at you local community college. Learning from YouTube or a website is NOT the answer for MOST people. You need someone to explain the "why" behind the "what." You need someone to teach you the theory behind the fields that use CAD, not just how to press the buttons. yes, Revit is a good product, but don't fall too deeply in love with a piece of software. 5 years from now when you have a degree maybe we'll be using a completely different program for architectural design and documentation (e.g.: Tony Stark's holographic interface in the Iron Movies)
Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Architect-A-Candid-Guide-Profession/dp/0262621215/ref=pd_sim_b_60
It's a good description of what the field is actually like. Also, take art classes, and get really good at Photoshop and Illustrator.
This book is a great into to the less "sexy" parts of the profession and is largely accurate. I would recommend reading it alongside something more design focused or history focused. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0262621215/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1381420212&amp;sr=8-2&amp;pi=AC_SX110_SY165
For Civil / Structural engineers:
Why Buildings Stand Up
Alternatively
Why Buildings Fall Down
https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226458121
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226750213
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0201835959
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393306763
https://www.amazon.com/dp/039331152X
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393061329
> Nobody would blah
Nobody would do orbital insertion calculations using the wrong units, losing a spacecraft.
Nobody would follow procedures and delay stopping a train when part of a wheel is embedded in an armrest, killing 101 and destroying a bridge.
Nobody would cut corners on repairing nuclear reactor coolant lines, causing them to disintegrate when an earthquake struck in an earthquake-prone region. Disintegrated coolant lines led to a LOCA, and some Fukushima reactors were a lost cause even before the tsunami hit.
Nobody would light a cigarette in a car while huffing propane, yet I knew someone who did.
What else would nobody do? Because I can come up with a huge number of additional examples. The more you know, the harder it is to be ignorant. I think you are not only ignorant, but also speculating - which is not good.
Read why buildings fall down. If you do, it will be a lot harder for you to pigeonhole things as so unlikely that we need not concern ourselves with them, or for you to say that it's fine to take mental shortcuts.
read Why Buildings Fall Down http://www.amazon.com/Why-Buildings-Fall-Down-Structures/dp/039331152X
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0395316685/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_22eIDbHCT2QE4
I really enjoyed Macaulay's books like Cathedral, but for "The Way Things Work," I'll stick with the old dense version (pre-Macaulay).
My son is similar though younger. He enjoys books on architecture like the book cathedral
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395316685/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_SP2MAb9P0DY50
and a recent one on bridges that shows how every different type of bridge in the Portland /Vancouver area was made.
The Big & Awesome Bridges of Portland & Vancouver : A Book for Young Readers and Their Teachers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978736567/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DU2MAbYFKBWHB
I have architectural blueprints from a family member that I'm going to let him copy or trace soon.
I give him Lego challenges. Www.dameoftheden.com/block-challenge/
I'm looking forward to seeing him grow, little engineers are fascinating!
I'm currently in graduate school. Most of the textbooks I bought were for my technical classes like environmental technology or structures. I have used:
Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius. I used this in my theory class. It's a pretty neat book that offers classic principles of architecture.
The Ethical Function of Architecture This is another theory book that offers more contemporary architectural issues. I'm not the biggest fan of theoretical readings but it's not too bad.
Building Construction Illustrated by Francis Ching
Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings
Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School This is one I think every architecture student should own. Its very small and simple.
Mines a book: Building Construction Illustrated
Well said!
Edit: to add to this, is there a place that has presets for cad line weights, etc, or should I just take them from Graphic Standards
My pleasure. Oh, and I forgot to mention about the printing. I learned style that from my dad, who was a draftsman. Everything he wrote around the house was in that style of printing. I copied him as a kid and it's been my primary hand for over 30 years now.
Of the primary styles of technical lettering, it's probably the closest to freehand lettering as described on this page.
There are other variations. Architectural lettering is different from engineering or technical lettering. I describe architectural lettering as an "animated' form of technical lettering where it's common to see horizontals take on a slightly up-and-to-the-right slant. The basic style is described in the popular text Architectural Graphics by Frank Ching and is studied by most architecture students. Architects can take a more liberal approach to their lettering and most architects develop their own style and flair for writing. Engineering and mechanical drawings cannot take such liberties, and as a result, technical lettering is much more uniform in style than architectural lettering.
Before any modeling, I'd get a handle on 2d drawing
http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4
Learn about lineweights, drawing plans/sections, isometric drawings - These rules matter once you take it to the computer.
Architects communicate in 2D like this, renderings usually only help the layman understand your project as they can't visualize space and form as easily as an architect can
http://drawingarchitecture.tumblr.com/
When you're in the computer I would probably learn autocad and revit to start out, rhino with paneling tools in your later semesters.
Try to find a renderering software that works with what you're good at. I use 3dsmax + vray for realism, but some professors prefer the clean look of sketchup
Okay, I'm not going into architecture really but I would like to have some advice. I'm in illustration and I'm looking on learning how to design and get the fundamentals of architecture. I'm pretty decent at perspective (I'm in technical illustration) and I mainly want to learn the thought process. Some books mentioned in this thread are pretty interesting and I'm contemplating on maybe buying one or 2. Although before I do I was wondering if anyone can enlighten me on these books I've found on my own but unsure about the quality:
http://www.amazon.com/City-Shaped-Patterns-Meanings-Through/dp/0821220160/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373412339&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=The+City+Shaped%3A+Urban+Patterns+and+Meanings+Through+History
^ This books seems really promising, but of course the price puts me off a little (I plan on buying more than one book) anyone have this book? Seems really great for inspiration and learning how cities develop.
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Architecture-Francis-D-Ching/dp/1118142063/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373412493&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Introduction+to+Architecture
^ again another promising book but the price Q.Q Same issue as the other book above. Feedback is appreciated.
http://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Graphics-Francis-D-Ching/dp/0470399112/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373412567&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=Architectural+Graphics
http://www.amazon.ca/Interior-Design-Illustrated-Francis-Ching/dp/1118090713/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&amp;colid=9P9QTDTSZXLG&amp;coliid=I248RXWWVDQ6NZ
I'm basically looking at Ching's books. Last one is a .ca amazon.
Depending on your state, a degree may not be required to become a registered architect. Many small-medium practices (15-20 folks) have a need for some sort of in-house IT person and he may be able to use his computer experience in conjunction with his drafting ability to get in the door.
Some free software that would be hugely beneficial to learn:
Sketchup and Autodesk Revit (a 36 mo. student version is available for free download)
...and once again I am going to recommend a Ching book: Architectural Graphics
Visual Dictionary of Architecture
Probably this: https://www.amazon.com/Measure-Man-Woman-Factors-Design/dp/0471099554
I've come across a few human factors book with a good set of data. If I remember correctly this represents data analysed and collected by US army in the 70s and the data is heavily biased towards Caucasian bodies.
I would like to avoid OCR and parsing it. If anyone knows any openly available dataset it would be really helpful.
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!
Here is link number 1 - Previous text "few"
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^Please ^PM ^/u/eganwall ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^Delete
The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich. Passionate, precise, a clear and accessible view of thousands of years of art history. Alternatively, by way of introduction to the author, he has penned the informative A Little History of The World in a bright and accessible style that nobody could resist.
Autodesk Fusion 360 is probably the best free to use (home use only!) 3D modeling software out right now. There's a huge community for it and the interface is very intuitive. Plus It has a built in G Code generator for CNC and wireframe generator which is helpful for stuff like 3D printing. These features aren't perfect but they're good starting points. I would still recommend a book to learn what each code does. You can also output engineering drawings as .PDF files and do some physics modeling on your parts/assemblies to get a rough estimate of how hard it will be to break something.
Also get your hands on a copy of CNC programing handbook by Peter Smid.
http://www.amazon.com/CNC-Programming-Handbook-Third-Edition/dp/0831133473
This book?
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Handbook-Third-Peter-Smid/dp/0831133473/ref=la_B001IU4QEM_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1421716024&amp;sr=1-1
Here is the mobile version of your link
So, regarding the eligibility for an MSME program, I don't think you'll be able to get accepted without some level of BSME curriculum. You might not need a full BSME, but there would be some core courses you'll need to take. More discussion here: https://m.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/32pfc8/those_who_have_a_msme/
Now as for the Disney Imagineering path, I wouldn't limit yourself to Orlando area. Judging by the latest engineering job postings (link), it seems a lot of their staff is in Glendale, CA. There has been a lot of discussion here on Reddit as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3e7i0z/iwasan_imagineer_amaa/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland/comments/2m8ign/how_do_you_become_an_imagineer_at_disneyland/
You also might want to start reading up on Imagineering as well. I've found dozens of books on Amazon on the subject. Here's just one: http://amzn.to/29HwlF0. There are numerous books on theme park engineering as well.
Hope this helps. Sounds like you have some research to do.
Well I think that if I got this for my wedding as a decoration I'd be a rockstar and so would you for hooking us up!
Rockstar
Rockstar and Redbull are where it's at. I hate monster.
After checking out your wishlists I really think you may be needing this. It would go great in a few of your wishlists. It could go under books, cooking stuff, cute stuff, or it could have it's own category called "stuff I'd keep in my Tardis".
An item from my list I'd love is this or this or both, since they'd be under $20 :D
Whats even better than a funny picture? A funny gif! Here's of my favorite doctor being very funny.
There were a few books that were reccomended as staples in my Design degree.
History of Design
How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
Making and Breaking the Grid
...and there was one caled 'Type' that I can't seem to remember the author of.
Adrian Shaughnessy
A book not mentioned in that post would be Graphic Design: The New Basics - Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips.
I would recommend this book as a starting point. It's more like a collection of different design ideas with enough description to search further.
Also, I noticed color psychology was brought up. Be careful when reading into that, there is a lot of subjectivity in mainstream sources (like those infographics you sometimes see). Most research only points at the practicality of color psychology.
That would explain it! I would recommend reading some design books. Your university probably has a good selection in the library. If you can get ahold of syllabuses for intro design classes, check out what books they use. I recommend Grid Systems to everyone. We also used Graphic Design: The New Basics in school, and this it's a really great intro to design. I don't really have any suggestions for Typography books, but maybe someone else could jump in with a recommendation?
Yeah, /u/A_Bus_Fulla_Nunz is correct. Michelangelo had nothing to do with the the dome itself.
I highly recommend the book Brunelleschi's Dome. It will blow your mind how amazing the creation of this cathedral is.
43.773157, 11.256953
Brunelleschi's Dome is still the largest unsupported masonry dome in the world, even though it was built in the Renaissance. You can actually climb to the top of the dome and see over all of Florence, just a spectacular view. Probably my favorite place I've ever visited. There's actually a book about how the dome was built that's really interesting.
I was hoping to get the Super Meat Boy bundle, but I like puzzle games, so if there is a different puzzle bundle/game available, that would be awesome as well. Thanks for the giveaway!
Here is the survey text for general works, and if you haven't read Gombrich's "The Story of Art," it is a must-read for a potential grad student!
I know you're young and early in your career as a designer, but please, please, PLEASE don't create logos for $35. That tiny amount of money wouldn't even cover an hour of research, let alone the hours, days, and weeks it should take to create a proper brand.
Don't undersell yourself, and certainly don't undersell the work of other designers. If you're interested in pursuing a career as a designer, read this, get this, and keep up the good work.
Which is, on occasion, a wonderful form of payment. As I outlined above, having friends or family pay you back with beer is (occasionally) acceptable.
And I'm sure it would have been hard to have anything remotely like the creative freedom you seemed to have enjoyed were the people paying you in cash.
However, the fact stands that without legal tender changing hands you are, at best, saying "the efforts of my labor are worth a few cold ones." At worst you set a dangerous precedent for this company, and other companies reading about them on reddit or other websites, to think that any creative work should be valued at a lower rate.
To put it another way: What if you'd walked into the restaurant and said "generally the going market rate for a dinner at a restaurant is $25/person. But why don't you feed us for $2/person and we'll tell all our friends?" The restaurant is hard up for cash, so they agree. You eat, they lose money on the deal, but they hope you bring in your friends. And you do... only you've told your friends "there's this great restaurant I went to that feeds you for two-bucks a piece."
A new wave of folks come in, they all want the same deal. The restaurant argues, maybe they get some people up to $5. They've increased their pricing by more than 200% but they're still losing money.
Suddenly they have a wave of people in the city talking about cheap meals. Other restaurants are hurting, so they have to slash their prices to compete. Which means that the first restaurant has no hope of arguing up in price because not only do they have a history of giving away food at absurdly low amounts, now the people next to them are doing the same thing so they have no choice put to match or they fail to compete.
Pretty soon, you can't charge more than $5 a head at a restaurant, wait staff are cut, quality of food suffers, customer service sucks... and now $5 for what used to be good is now looking pretty shitty.
Things go that bad, that fast. That's why the market comes to a natural, healthy level and people shouldn't drastically undercut it.
I'm sure you didn't think about that, and (in all honest) the restaurant you did work for probably doesn't have nearly the budget of... say... taco bell or chi-chi's or whatever they're competing with. But the fact remains that some greater value needs to be applied.
If this is a career you want to persue, I really recommend you check out this book. It applies mostly to the design world (print and web), but the lessons translate very well to any creative medium.