(Part 3) Best residential arhitecture books according to redditors
We found 211 Reddit comments discussing the best residential arhitecture books. We ranked the 107 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
the changes presented in 1915 actually started in the 1600s. The Ladie’s Magazine, which included fashion plates, dates back to 1770 and the very first fashion magazine dates back to the same century as the Bible reading woman. In regards to the woman not sitting upright in the chair people started to wanting to live more comfortably and relaxed in the 17th century as well. Reclining chairs were first created in the 1670s.
https://dstrausblog.wordpress.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Age-Comfort-Discovered-Casual-Modern/dp/160819230X
This is an interest read that might give you an idea: https://www.amazon.com/Baltimore-Rowhouse-Charles-Belfoure/dp/1568982836
If you live in one of the qunitessential working class rowhomes of that era - the ones in Canton - the first floor layout was similar to the way most are now, but with the stairwell in the middle dividing the front and back of the house (likely a tight winding staircase). At the top of the staircase, you'd turn toward the front of the house and find one bedroom that is the full width of the house, which you would pass through to get to the 2nd bedroom in the front; if you turned toward the back of the house, there would be one additional bedroom which you would pass through to get to the only bathroom in the house, which was typically a wood addition onto the back of the brick rowhome. If your house was built a little later into the 20th century, you may have had a tiny middle bedroom with no window in lieu of a pass-through bedroom, or the house may get skinnier toward the rear to allow for a tiny window in that middle bedroom. It wasn'y until the 1920s-30s that the wider daylight houses were being built which allowed 3-4 private rooms, all with windows.
http://www.amazon.com/Prefab-Allison-Arieff/dp/1586851322/sr=1-1/qid=1170726092/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-5495711-7911037?ie=UTF8&s=books
Additionally reading for those interested
I grew up in Charleston, but live in Atlanta now. I have some recommendations for you:
So that's a start. You could go back every week for a year and not run out of cool stuff to do.
You may want to take a look at this book as it goes over various construction techniques (albeit more traditional ones).
This is slightly different, but growing up my mother had The Not So Big House books which focused a lot on the living small, less than 1,000 feet (or just downsizing period), but not necessarily tiny.
The first photography book I fell in love with was Peter B. Kaplan's High on New York. Amazing what he had to do to get some of the shots, and it would be so much fun to go to some of the places he did to try and recreate them. First looked at it at the public library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin almost thirty years ago. It's long out of print but was able to get a mint copy a couple years ago.
Another one not particularly about photography but containing a lot of very good photos of a single subject is Kira Obolensky's Garage: Reinventing the Place We Park.
Recently stayed in a rental house on Minnesota's north shore and there was a wonderful photograph book on the coffee table. Had to order Craig Blacklock's Minnesota's North Shore as soon as I got home. There was no wifi and the cell signal was almost non-existent where we stayed, so had to drive home first.
The big one on my wish list now is the Apollo VII – XVII photography book. A bit pricey, though.
A book on joinery, specifically geared towards furniture making and other small applications, but the principles apply to large joinery as well
an good, thorough book, although old, but I actually really enjoy books written in this old style
A newer book by the same author, from the late 90's
These are just the few suggestions on material I have had personal contact with, there are volumes upon volumes out there that cover this subject, you could spend a lifetime learning. Most of my knowledge was gained through my work, and my peers. The carpentry program here in Canada only touches briefly on timber construction, and even then mainly covers engineered glue-lam and things like that, not old world techniques.
If you're really, really interested, I suggest looking into companies that specialize in timber framing. Drawing and designing for them is a specialized skill the same way that actually building them is. Many modern companies do a large portion of their cutting with mechanized CNC tooling, and their design processes cater to that. It also enables very intricate designs that would take months or years just to cut by hand.
A mix of styles looks fresher than a period look, and you're less likely to tire of it.
For ideas, check out the "eclectic" tags on Houzz. You can definitely make the styles you like work.
And around the internet:
//www.hgtv.com/remodel/interior-remodel/room-for-two-traditional-meets-midcentury-modern-design
Old & New by Katherine Sorrell is also a good read (though it's also antiques in modern houses).
I also have this one: https://www.amazon.com/New-Classic-Style-Traditional-Gardens/dp/0696214032/
(See your library if you don't want a stack of too many decor books like mine!)
Would love to see some pics!
passive design (any good architect will start with this) - this includes orientation (windows in the south, not so much in the north), taking advantage of winter/summer suns (block out summer sun, allow the winter sun to heat the interior), allow for cross ventilation (and heat escape), to reduce use of A/C in the hotter months.
Materials - concrete is very sustainable, and provides extra insulation. It is possible to make a completely poured-in-place dwelling, especially on this smaller scale. With a full concrete shell (that can still be covered in whichever preferred materials), the interior will maintain a pretty steady temperature...as long as all openings are insulated with good doors and windows.
For heating, the most efficient is radiant heating (the pipes in the floor), works especially well with concrete floors, which can be polished in a variety of colors. The radiant heating can run on natural gas, electricity, or even a wood burning stove. Usually people desire hardwood floors in their houses, I guess it provides a "warmth". This can still be achieved with the use of reclaimed wood on either the walls or the ceiling. They also come in a variety of finishes and colors, and since they won't be seeing foot traffic like a floor, they could be left as is, or if stained/sealed, they won't need upkeep.
Another thing to keep in mind, is when it comes to sustainability, think of maintenance. If it needs less maintenance this (usually) translates into being more sustainable (not replacing, etc.)
Some other ideas are green roofs, grey water collection systems, rain collection systems (for irrigation purposes). Photo voltaic systems of course, turbines, solar hot water, geothermal...all things to consider.
The book Off the Grid Homes gave me some ideas, and I grabbed it right at B&N, I'm sure they have some others too.
I have a lot more ideas, and always willing to give input! message me for anything. I'm not an "architect", I'm a recent architecture graduate but have been doing a lot of independent study and reading on sustainability.
My Favorite Book House in Fez also loved Caliphs House and In arabian nights
I just bought Hacking the earthship and Earthships in Europe, but could not find the time to read them yet. For what I could find, it seems that there is not a large choice of books about earthships, but you can find some more about ecological building.
You might like "Building & Co." but be aware it's mediocre buggy game and hard to find. The worst part I remember was the game did not make it easy to plan out spaces, and this was annoying because of the strict requirements (building must be xxx sqft, must have 3 offices with size of 10x20 or whatever) and difficulty of redoing something if you made a mistake. It means you'd have to preplan your building on some graphpaper first. However this totally fits in with the games tagline of "be the architect, city planner, and foreman". Gotta come up with some blueprints before you build something ;).
I do want to try it out again however.
Another person suggested learning SketchUp and that is actually a great idea. There's lots of books that will teach you how to use SketchUp (which is free for person use) and will teach it to you while having you build a residential home. You can get used text books from Amazon for really cheap as long as you don't buy the latest or previous year. Just go a few years back and the price drops dramatically. Trust me that the software and contents of the book don't change significantly over the years. I got this book on making a home to learn Revit (which is free for educational use) and it's also a similar to SketchUp fairly easy to learn the basics.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585036803/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1473266786&sr=1-14&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Daniel+John+Stine
Oh there's a book I have... let me go find the info on that
...Here ya go
https://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Natural-Swimming-Pool/dp/099338921X/ref=sr_1_3?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1501870201&sr=8-3&keywords=natural+swimming+pool&tag=myregistrycom-20
https://www.amazon.com/Detail-Contemporary-Residential-Architecture-CD-ROM/dp/1856694828
This is one book in a series that delves into contemporary design.
This book has some decent background on the overall building style.
http://www.amazon.com/Habitat-Humanity-Build-Revised-Updated/dp/1561589675
God dammit !
https://www.amazon.ca/Cabinology-Handbook-Your-Private-Hideaway/dp/1561589489
My concerns are not around the thermal performance of the units but rather their performance against wind driven rain. In Scotland we get the highest levels of wind driven rain in Europe to the extent that fully concrete brick walls are not able to keep the weather out indefinitely. It never really gets properly cold here except for freak occasions.
I seem to have underestimated the quantities of concrete suggested so I'm now assuming your units are as stable as a cmu.
How do you propose to keep the units joined during the lifetime of the building? How easily is it disassembled? Why is this cheaper or better than building from scratch? (bear in mind most contractors don't care about carbon footprint etc.)
I fully believe that prefabrication is the way to make better buildings cheaper.
This book informed quite a lot of my early thinking on this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prefab-Green-Michelle-Kaufmann/dp/1423604970
I would highly recommend getting the book "Get Your House Right"
The structure you are working with has a lot of very strange and naive combinations of elements that don't quite work. If you were to correctly resolve the entablature, it would go a LONG way to making it read more coherently and harmoniously.
This book would be an invaluable resource for you in understanding exactly how to fix your building so it feels right, instead of clunky.