Customer Reviews

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I don't remember ever having a textbook for design studio - undoubtedly because this book hadn't been published yet. If it had, I would have had a wonderful little book that breaks down five years worth of architectural wisdom into 101 pages. I recommend reading it (about a ten minute read) before and a couple of times during the design process to refocus yourself. If nothing else, it should be required reading for first year students because it will teach you to speak architect. 'Parti' 'Figure/Ground' 'Positive Space' 'Negative Space' and all the other jargon architects tend to use are all defined here.

The book contains advice on both the technical and the intellectual. Hints for everything from lettering to post modern theory share page space with reminders as varied as 'design in section' to 'if you can't explain your design in terms your grandmother understands, you don't understand your own design.'

Nearly everything in the book is a hit. Even the cover is made from chip board. If you're a poor architecture student, scrape together some coffee money and get a copy. If you're already an architect, get a copy and remember a time before design problems were strip malls and warehouses.

One of those fantastic books that makes you feel smarter for reading it. The 101 little rules or principles that the author distills from his time as an architect are undoubtedly of use to an architect, but are also mind-openers for any curious and design- or art- inclined person.

Each principle is stated in a sentence or two, with an accompanying illustration. Some are specific little rules (the pointlessness of spitting a room with a single step; people are wider in the Winter); some are perspective shaping (about negative space; about meandering ways of getting to somewhere often beating direct ways). The illustrations are elegant and compliment each principle perfectly. You'll find yourself idling over each, as the lessons behind the lessons sink in.

If you have any asthetic inclinations but find yourself dealing too much with words, open this beautiful little book and feel those old synapses firing up.

Great gift too.

I am an architecture student, and with every project in studio, this book is a reference to keep my mind in check. This book should be in every architecture students hands. Simple as that, if your an architecture student this $12 that the book costs is the best $12 you will ever spend.

Not Only for Architects

"101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" is an enjoyable, well-designed little book.

As a registered architect since 1968 I sometimes wish I could do a better job of making others understand why we do what we do. Matthew Frederick has captured the essence of what makes most of us tick. Lend this book to non-architect friends and to clients. If you don't get it back, buy another.

From No. 1 "How to draw a line", to No. 101 "Architects are late bloomers", and my favorite, No. 72 "Design with models", this book is a gem.

Was expecting a little more from this book. It doesn't go into a lot of depth and some points hardly scratch the surface.

It does have things that every student should know, but at the same time there's no explanation or reasoning. Some pages are included in the "101" that are simply quotes that do not bear a lot of significance

"101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" is stealth information for the spatially challenged (me.) Each lesson is presented in a two-page format: line drawings and text. The book is written in direct and unpretentious style, making it accessible to professionals as well as the general reader, and the drawings are wonderful. In format, approach, and information, this book reminds me of Norton Juster's forgotten 1963 classic "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics."

I've owned this book for two months now, and after skimming through it a few times early on, I've come to where I'm reading it regularly, and with expanded purpose and meaning. Although I'm not an architect, I do work with them, and find architects to be fascinating people. This book brings to life many of the under-pinnings of how architects think and see the world. These foundational aspects of the profession are also quite useful and stimulating to life in general, and therein lies the beauty of this book. #81 is striking to me: "Properly gaining control of the design process tends to feel like one is losing control of the design process." Often, designing our lives requires just such a sense of losing control before the clarity has arrived.

Since we all inhabit designed spaces and visit them daily, this book can offer a tremendous amount of perpsective to enrich that otherwise typically mundane or ignored opportunity of simply noticing how an architect has thought about greeting us. Let "101 Things..." wash over you, and I think you'll find it joyful and meaningful.

I have been in the technical realm of the architectural profession so long that it has been a while since I contemplated the other aspects of the profession. It was nice to read a book that was short on pretension and big on the stuff that interested me in Architecture in the first place. This book is a quick read that covers everything from theory to design philosophy to practical application of ideas. Been a long time since I heard someone use the word "Parti" and not want to roll my eyes. This was a fun read and rekindled my love of the profession. Thank you.

Conseeding to the fact that I am an architecture freak, and find myself reading on architecture all the time. I often get lost in my own thoughts in architecture and design books because the text often gets overblown with points and explanations that are not needed (dare I say, for decoration and the authors ego).

But not this book. This is the coolest precise book on architecture I have ever seen and makes the task of putting my application portfolio for arch school ten times easier than most other (much longer) arch books out there.

Its not just 101 great tips but an easy and fast read and cheap, no reason not to get it!!!

This book is a quick read. His 101 selections are quick and to the point. Each written page has a visual communication to accompany it, so if you're a visual learner, you will appreciate this.

i.e. He writes, "A good presentation meets the Ten-foot Test. The essential elements of the drawings you pin up for a design studio presentation in particular, labels and titles- should be legible from 10 feet away." On the opposing pages is a sketch of a crowd viewing a presentation and a board of what should be legible from 10 feet.

Is this rocket science? No. But sometimes the most obvious isn't always obvious. It's a fast read. I do about 3 or 4 quick pages every night before bed.