Architecture: Form, Space, & Order (Paperback)

~ Francis D. Ching (Author)
Key Phrases: ideal church, vertical linear elements, enclosing planes, Frank Lloyd Wright, Andrea Palladio, Golden Section (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"His classic introduction to the basic elements of architecture has served as a reference for both students and practicing architects for 30-plus years. Illustrated throughout with b&w diagrams and renderings, the third edition includes expanded sections on circulation, light, views, and site context; new material on environmental factors and building codes; and contemporary examples of form, space, and order." (Book News, February 2008)

Product Description

A superb visual reference to the principles of architecture

Now including interactive CD-ROM!

For more than thirty years, the beautifully illustrated Architecture: Form, Space, and Order has been the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. The updated Third Edition features expanded sections on circulation, light, views, and site context, along with new considerations of environmental factors, building codes, and contemporary examples of form, space, and order.

This classic visual reference helps both students and practicing architects understand the basic vocabulary of architectural design by examining how form and space are ordered in the built environment.? Using his trademark meticulous drawing, Professor Ching shows the relationship between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultural boundaries. By looking at these seminal ideas, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order encourages the reader to look critically at the built environment and promotes a more evocative understanding of architecture.

In addition to updates to content and many of the illustrations, this new edition includes a companion CD-ROM that brings the book's architectural concepts to life through three-dimensional models and animations created by Professor Ching.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (June 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471752169
• ISBN-13: 978-0471752165
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,483 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent primer, December 10, 2004

By	J. Horst "cynical curmudgeon" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Architecture: Form, Space, and Order (Paperback)

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.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book, November 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Architecture: Form, Space, and Order (Paperback)

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.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "I Ching" of Architecture., December 1, 2002

By	James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Architecture: Form, Space, and Order (Paperback)

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.