Customer Reviews

Architectural Graphics, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Those who have panned this book weren't looking for insight into the thought process of architectural design. This book is not a cookbook, but a primarily graphical introductory intended to start the architecture student thinking how architects think.

I'm not technically an architecture student, but rather an architecture design "hobbyist". I found this book very useful as far as helping me to look at the design process in new ways, and to better understand the various historical (and contemporary) methods/techniques used to formulate architectural designs.

This book is a textbook, not a 5 lb. coffee table glossy.

After seeing this book on the shelf of a friend's architecture office, I bought it for my homeschooled children who are genuinely interested in architecture and building...Their dad (who teaches drafting and construction) and I could not put it down! The drawings are clear and so comprehensive. The book covers so much...Architectural styles, drawing types, etc. Mostly in drawings with very little text. So many architecture books are filled with heavy text, that you are lost in it, rather than learning the ideas and concepts. That is not a problem here. It is not to say that in any way this is a simplistic, elementary book...I'm sure it is used at the post-graduate and professional levels. The drawings and captions/info just say so much more than all those words! We are all learning a lot from this book, and are looking forward to buying more of this man's work.

An excellent introduction to architecture. However, I liked the old horizontal format better. The new edition has all the same illustrations but its vertical formal isn't as compelling. Ching is the master of free-hand sketching. In this book he covers the basic principles of architecture with copious illustrations and an easy to follow progression of ideas. It is great for first year students and frustrated architects alike. My only word of warning is that once you buy one of his volumes on architecture, it is hard to resist the others.

Architectural Graphics covers a huge range of fields within Architectural Drafting, and Presentation. From perspective to plans, this book has it all. Excellent for beginners, it is a visual, easy to understand guide to Drafting.

As an artist, designer and storyteller, I find Dr. Ching's book to be a revelation. You can open it to any page, like casting the I Ching, and begin to read. His draftsmanship, his infinite patience and exceptionally ordered mind places even the most esoteric subject firmly into perspective. And it seems to rub off on the reader. If you are ever blocked for any reason, duplicate a page. I guarantee you'll return to your own work with fresh insight.

I'm a freshman architecture student and had to get Ching's book for one of my classes. It is much better at explaining new concepts than the other dry articles we have to read for class and the sketchs are amazing. After getting this book I bought Ching's visual dictionary of architecture which is a great source for looking up terms.

As other reviewers have indicated, this book is ideal for architecture students. It is also useful for any designer or artist who wishes to refine line-drawing techniques. The sections on perspective are particularly well-done, more thorough than any how-to art book I've ever seen.

I would have liked to have seen some exploration of coloration techniques, but overall the book is excellent. The entire book is hand-written and hand-drawn, which gives it a wonderfully unique feel that is itself worth the quite reasonable pricetag.

The first time I read this book, it blew me away. Not only did Ching use a simple way of explaining the principals of architechture, he also included numberous sketches and quotes about architecture. Since I'm hoping to become a arcitect myself, I will use as a treasured resorce in my architecture in high school, in classes at college and beyond. This book has found a brilliant way to introduce the world of architecture to the reader in such a way that a person with little interest in the subject will become enthralled with it. I've even begun to read the book again!

This book lays the best foundation for architectural study and design of any book ever published. It should be required reading at every university and would make a great primer for high school students with enlightened teachers.

I know that Ching is revered in the field and is recommended by virtually all, but I'm just not feeling the love, especially for this particular book. The graphics in the book have a "sketchy" look I don't just don't find appealing or inspiring. A more serious problem is the way the information is weighted: there are pages of illustration/discussion about simple things like line weights and triangles, which would lead one to assume this is a beginner's book. That would be fine, but as the book progresses, the depth of information dissapates, so that a beginner who tries to follow instructions, for instance, on preparing a perspective or isometric drawing would be completely unable to do so. In this way, the book reminds me of certain assemble-it-at-home instructions: Step one is to get out your tools, step two is to take out the pieces, and step three is to put the thing together. If you're already a professional, you don't really need to see an illustration of a lead holder. If you are an absolute beginner, you need more thorough instructions. Really, I can't imagine the audience for whom this book is intended.