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Reading list

The following titles relate to design and specification , and are available to buy from RIBA Bookshops.

Buildings that feel good

What makes a building good? This central challenge facing architects and clients can only be answered by looking at what works well for those who know the buildings most intimately – the building's users.

Richly illustrated in colour, this refreshingly original book is packed with case studies of recent buildings that feel good. This ineffable quality is architecture's Holy Grail. It is rooted in the physical but mediated by human experience, and may only be judged after the building has been ‘lived in' and stood the test of time. The trick is to identify the relevant characteristics that will inform new buildings before they are built.

Architectural Models

Architectural Models is a modern manifesto for architectural model construction. This volume, conceived as a reference book, presents works by approximately 30 model-building studios in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in extensive detail. In this way, the transformation of a field rich in tradition in the CAD age is informatively sketched and information on its modern possibilities presented.

Architects Draw

Where does architectural design begin? In an age obsessed with all things digital, it's tempting to envision a computer screen in a paperless studio. While the practical value of computer-aided drafting and photorealistic modelling are indisputable, you won't find the soul of architecture in the machine. Look instead at an architect's drawing hand. Ideas flow onto the paper through the uniquely human creative collaboration between mind and eye. Architects Draw, the inaugural volume of the new Architectural Briefs series, highlights this most fundamental level of speculative design–freehand drawing.
 

Materials, Specification and Detailing: Technologies of Architecture Volume 3

This volume examines the various layers of knowledge, skills and mechanisms that make up the many approaches to the essential function of technical design in the creation of successful buildings. Well-illustrated with case studies, the author draws on his extensive experience in architectural education to provide a detailed description of the development process, acknowledging traditional solutions whilst also encouraging designers to consider innovative alternatives. Attention is paid to materials choices, detail design and specification writing.

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