The following Architecture books are a must-have on every student architect’s bookshelf!

101 Things I Learned in Architecture by Mathew Frederick

This is a book that students of architecture will want to keep in the studio and in their backpacks. It is also a book they may want to keep out of view of their professors, for it expresses in clear and simple language things that tend to be murky and abstruse in the classroom. These 101 concise lessons in design, drawing, the creative process, and presentation—from the basics of “How to Draw a Line” to the complexities of color theory—provide a much-needed primer in architectural literacy, making concrete what too often is left nebulous or open-ended in the architecture curriculum.

BLDGBLOG Book by Geoff Manaugh

Nearly five million readers have visited the BLDGBLOG Web site since its inception in 2004 for stories about the past news about the present and speculation about the future of how humans shape their environment. The site provides intriguing details from the fringes of contemporary architectural practice in an accessible thought-provoking and highly entertaining manner. Here author Geoff Manaugh presents his insights in book form combining history urban exploration science fiction design climate change and city planning with the view that everything is relevant to architecture. With five captivating and colorfully illustrated chapters The BLDGBLOG Book is sure to delight and inspire the builder the thinker and the visionary in all of us.

Translation by Aaron Betsky

Fernando Romero graduated from architecture school in Mexico City in 1995, and then worked with Enric Miralles, Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas before setting up his own firm in 1999, called Laboratorio de la Ciudad de Mexico. LCM soon became influential, as one of few offices–if not the only one–carrying out experimental projects in Mexico Cityís economically vulnerable environment. In 2005, Romero founded the Laboratory of Architecture, LAR. Translation divides LCM and LARís projects into three categories. ìFluid Bodiesî are long-lasting private projects, addressing specific situations with high-tech resources.

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)

The second of three books published by the Center for Environmental Structure to provide a “working alternative to our present ideas about architecture, building, and planning,” A Pattern Language offers a practical language for building and planning based on natural considerations. The reader is given an overview of some 250 patterns that are the units of this language, each consisting of a design problem, discussion, illustration, and solution. By understanding recurrent design problems in our environment, readers can identify extant patterns in their own design projects and use these patterns to create a language of their own. Extraordinarily thorough, coherent, and accessible.

Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier

Probably the most important book in Modern Architecture. Certainly the most villified over the years, especially since the death of Le Corbusier. In it he laid the ground work for Modern Architecture, extolling the virtues of an architecture that was the product of the machine age rather than a pastiche of historical styles. Le Corbusier illustrated the principles which he felt should govern architecture, drawing from historical references such as the Parthenon, but stressing the need to come up with a new proportional system reflective of concrete construction.

10 x 10 (Architecture) by Editors of Phaidon Press

This is a comprehensive view of contemporary architecture, presenting the work of 100 exceptional international architects. It provides an opportunity to see a diverse, inspirational collection of recent work, selected by 10 of the world’s best informed architectural critics. The architects are presented in A-Z order, with four pages allocated to each practice, including an accompanying text by one of the ten critics. It is intended to be a global selection. The work shown here features over 250 buildings and projects, including recent built work as well as projects currently under construction, due for completion in the 21st century.

DesignIntelligence Almanac of Architect & Design 2009

For 10 years the Almanac of Architecture & Design, DesignIntelligence’s annual factbook, has been providing the readers with the critical information it needs about the sweeping events, benchmarks, and successes of the past year in design. Find out which building has assumed the title as tallest, which firms are winning awards, which projects and firms are at the top of their market segment, and who the leaders are in the profession. Highlights of the 2009 edition include: * Measurements of Design Success * Design Award Benchmarks * Green and Sustainable Innovation Records * Factbook on Compensation * Watershed Events that Shaped the Profession * Databases of Pacesetting Projects * Industry Rankings * Architecture Scorecards

A History of the Future by Donna Goodman

The political, social, and economic upheaval of the early twentieth century generated an extraordinary range of proposals for the future as successive generations grappled with issues of organizing vast urban systems and humanizing dense industrial environments. As conceptual design became the vehicle for exploring ideas and presenting new movements, a dialogue between technology and design began to emerge.

A History of the Future explores the impact of modern technology on design and planning, beginning with Renaissance concepts that laid the foundations for modern visionary work and concluding with emerging projects in sustainable design. It also includes relevant projects in related fields, such as film, photography, and industrial design.

Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster by Mike Davis

The 1990s have not been kind to Los Angeles. The increasing fear about nature’s reign of terror in Southern California reflected in Hollywood’s preoccupation with apocalypse–L.A. has been destroyed on screen by everything from lava (Volcano) to nukes (Miracle Mile) to alien death rays (Independence Day)–is in reality a strong case of denial.

Although this book is specifically about Los Angeles, its lessons about the relationship between urban developments and natural ecosystems and about the dangerous influence of class politics on environmental safety policy are applicable to any city. Anyone with a serious interest in natural history or urban policy should make a point of reading this book. –Ron Hogan