The Architecture Reference & Specification Book: Everything Architects Need to Know Every Day Paperback – August 1, 2013

This architecture book, along with their interior design book, gave me SO MANY ideas, concepts, pitfalls, things to think about, that I couldn't put it down. I thought I knew a lot behind the engineering for designing my next house, this book showed me how wrong I was. This is not written like a story book, nor is it just a technical-numbers reference... it gives a brief (technical) overview of each concept before presenting the numbers behind each reference. If you're used to reading stories or are looking for decorating ideas, look elsewhere. But, if you've also got an engineer's brain, you will love how this reads. I read this cover-to-cover, and will probably do it again more than once during my home design process.

I reference this book all the time as part of my job at an Architecture firm. The diagrams are well thought out and it has all of the code related information that I need. It doesn't, however, have some of the more esoteric and obscure codes that I occasionally need. But that's fine as it's only a small reference book. In summary, it's a handy little book to keep in a drawer at my desk.

A very practical and useful handbook for architecture students, recent graduates, and architects. The diagrams are easy to understand and the information is concise. It has everything, from the basics of architectural drawing and sketching to ADA guidelines and building codes. It is my go-to reference book when searching for those specifics I sometimes forget about or have any doubts. Really helpful!

I found this to be a great little reference book that tried to cover a little bit of everything a beginner / intermediate architect might want to use. Lots of graphics and charts. Definitely a handy book.

What architect or architectural student has not dreamed of writing his or her own quick-reference book? How many of us carry around notebooks crammed with precious bits of information, hard won from years of experience, both good and bad? This book is an excellent attempt to formalize the most important and useful of that information. It's an attractive book printed in four tones with the occasional full-color spread and a "travel guide" feel. I wouldn't call it "pocketable" unless your pockets can accommodate an iPad Mini, but it will ride along very comfortably in a pack or messenger bag.The author acknowledges the immense quantity of information architects must be prepared to wield on a daily basis. Any attempt at abridgment will invariably leave out some critical piece of information or another. This particular abridgment appears to be best suited to students of architecture, young practitioners, and related professionals such as real estate agents, facilities managers, and the like. While each section contains valuable information architects with more experience will quickly move from this book to the full resources, many of which are identified in the "compendium" section of this book (though strangely the book references old versions of some of these resources).The inclusion of several pages devoted to hand-drafting implements and methodologies, and the omission of any mention of Building Information Modeling whatsoever is perplexing, particularly for a book published in 2013, but perhaps somewhat understandable given the author's professional academic background. Still, if the author intends to argue that software are tools and that tools should be taught on the job why devote an entire chapter to AutoCAD?In the end, I'm keeping this book as a really decent resource, but I think such abridgments would be more successful if they were tailored to particular real-life job descriptions (i.e. student, job captain, project architect, etc.).

I absolutely love this book. It has a lot of useful information and the size it is perfect to carry with you. Excellent if you are an architecture student or an junior architect to consult standards. Hope it helps

I really like this book... perhaps it is only a basic reference book, and an experienced architect wouldn't have much use for it, but as a beginner/very new to the whole thing, it's really good. I wouldn't understand more complicated reference books at this stage. For what I got it to be, it works perfectly!

A wonderful basic overview of how structures are put together. Years ago I worked in the office of a general contractor on high rises in Seattle and Denver. I was curious about the stages and processes of construction and I wished I had this book then. Recent reading has taken me into architecture and history so this book is a nice addition to my library.