Architectural Digest (1-year auto-renewal)

Product Description

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Filled to the brim with articles, pictures, and features on both interior and exterior architecture and design, Architectural Digest magazine is a great resource for ideas, inspiration, and entertainment for designers and design enthusiasts.

Known for showcasing extravagant homes, Architectural Digest magazine regularly features the homes of the rich and famous, including billionaire bankers, famous actors, musicians, and more. These showcases present the most extravagant and lavish accomplishments in the design world, so the magazine is more of an entertainment source than a resource for people looking to design on a budget.

Many issues of Architectural Digest magazine take on central themes, so there is always something new and special to look forward to each month. The content editors love to present the latest and greatest in design, and you'll find pictures and feature articles spotlighting homeowners who live a variety of lifestyles. Unique structural techniques and the incorporation of recycled or alternative materials are just some examples of what you will find.

Special features like designer spotlights and before and after articles round out the content in Architectural Digest magazine. If you love seeing the transformation of a drab space into something fabulous, you'll enjoy these features. The magazine is substantial in size, and you'll find yourself flipping through it again and again.

Whether you're looking for inspiration for your own space or just enjoy seeing the finest offerings of the design world, Architectural Digest magazine is a large-sized publication that delivers exactly what you're seeking.

Product Description

The definitive design magazine, Architectural Digest takes you inside the world's most beautiful homes. With stunning photography and the best writers, it is the premier interior design magazine, featuring classic and contemporary styles. Your subscription includes the annual special issues: Before & After and Designers Own Homes.

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Product Details

• Format: Magazine
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Publisher: Conde Nast Publications
• ASIN: B001U5SPHO
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106 in Magazines (See Top 100 in Magazines)
  • #1 in Magazines > Home & Garden > Architecture
  • #2 in Magazines > Arts & Crafts > Architecture
This magazine subscription is provided by Conde Nast Publications

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

176 of 190 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Try 'Architecture' and 'Dwell' Instead May 23, 2004

By Robert I. Hedges HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Subscription Term Name:1 year

'Architectural Digest' has changed over the years to become fussier and more lifestyle oriented than substantial architecture and design commentary. I still have a subscription, but intend to allow it to lapse when it expires for three primary reasons:

1) The magazine is huge and cumbersome, largely due to the massive quantity of advertisements;
2) The magazine exclusively highlights gazillion dollar homes, that only are a factor for celebrities;
3) Stylistically, the magazine seems stuck in a rut of cluttered end tables and credenzas, overstuffed pillows, and no space on a wall unoccupied by a huge, gold, gilded framed picture from eighteenth century France.

I don't like clutter, and I don't like being ornate to make a house look rich. That's why I no longer think this is a magazine that I really need. For me I will read 'Architecture' for serious architectural commentary, and 'Dwell' for reasonable (and financially attainable) interior design commentary. Thanks, but no thanks.

102 of 108 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Architectural Digest: the source for interior designers March 11, 2002

By "jbrown2"

Subscription Term Name:1 year

Architectural Digest is not an "architecture" magazine as many people believe it is. It began as an architecture magazine, but slowly became known for its coverage of building interiors that consumers wanted to see. This is true today, as the cover article is generally the about the interior of a famed actor, politician, designer, or artist's home. These articles are remniscent of a paper version of MTV's show "Cribs." While the articles about the interiors dominate, an accompanying photograph of the exterior tags along when appropriate. The articles discuss the ideas, sources, materials and inspiration behind the designs pictured. Each magazine generally has about one dozen such articles plus features.
The magazine caters to the needs of interior designers and those who can, or wish they could hire them. The magazine does not promote or favor either traditional or modern design.
AD (as it calls itself) is full of advertisements. Some people may find this irritating, but for a designer, decorator, or client searching for inspiration or sources this information is equally valuable as the articles and features. Ads are just as telling of where the industry is going and where it has been as any picture or text.
If you subscribe, do it because you know and want what AD is. It is expensive, thick, and very useful if you are interested with the cutting edge of interior design. Do not get it to learn more about architecture or for the quality or readability of its text. Pictures and advertisements are the game with AD.If you are still unsure, pick up one at the newsstand and check it out before you buy 12 issues - most issues are like the others and "special" issues are frequent but not really that different from the norm.

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag September 12, 2003

By Joshua Drake

Subscription Term Name:1 year

I used to love Architectural Digest. I got to admire and be inspired by incredible homes, and I couldn't wait to get my issue every month.

However, lately, I have seen less Architecture than Interior Design, and more ads than ever. I've even let my subscription lapse. Every now and again, I'll pick it up on the magazine rack, but only if the issue is architecture heavy, or covers a particularly interesting project in depth.

Architectural Digest used to be the pinnacle in the field, but now it is just a mixed bag.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars House Pornography March 4, 2005

By J. Brian Watkins VINE™ VOICE

Subscription Term Name:1 year

In summary, this magazine portrays houses that you can't possibly ever hope to own in an "airbrushed" presentation that can't possibly match real life; it is "house pornography". It is exciting to read and puts plenty of ideas into your head.

You have to determine whether repeated exposure to this type of media will enhance your life or make you miserable. Hey, if you have a spare million dollars and need someone to tell you what is fashionable or in good taste--this is for you!

People complain about the ads--I complain about the articles. People get in the way. I note that none of the owners of these showpiece homes have children--most are living alternative lifestyles. Actually, the house becomes the product of the relationship instead of children. It is a fascinating cultural phenomenon and this magazine is the leading journal of the movement.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Way Too Much Filler, but still "Required Reading" July 1, 2003

By Paulindc

Subscription Term Name:1 year

AD has lost its edge over the years as it has become more focused on life style rather than interior design (witness the extensive sections dedicated to world hotels and properties for sale, or look at the breezy, non-substantive "Letters to the Editor" to get an idea that AD is not taken seriously by designers).

Still, AD usually presents one designer, or two, whose work is inspiring, and it's Special Editions ("before and after," or "designers' own homes") usually make up for some disappointing months.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Once about what you could have, but no longer... November 7, 2008

By Spearhead Soldier

Subscription Term Name:1 year

Once upon a time, what you saw in AD was what you might one day be able to do yourself. It was about tasteful, even higher end, but it was obtainable. Now it's about the houses and interiors that even the more successful of us out there will never be able to attain. Please quit touring the houses of the celebrities, the rich and famous, and instead go back to the days of those who were once like the rest of us. In short, go back to when the stuff we saw in AD gave us ideas for our own dream houses. Now you are the tasteful "home" equivalent of People Magazine...