Bookshelf of an Architecture Student

To begin with, Architecture, as a subject and a profession is not much of a sit-and-read-and-gulp, it involves a lot of your common sense and practicality. The procedure to become an architect starts when you are ready to put in all your efforts and be creative with it. It is important to grow while being creative, and reading is one of the best ways to do that. Reading in architecture has more to do with increasing your understanding, awareness and to manifest and realize, what interests you in the wide spectrum of the field that is architecture. Not many realize the importance of it, but books are really important to all architects, and as an architecture student there are some books that a student of architecture must hold.

Architecture involves the science and art of everything possible, from the climate to the earth under your feet, from geometries of all sorts to the organic forms of nature, everything can be contemplated in architecture.

Here are some should-have books, if you are an architecture student or are getting interested in it:

Subject Relative Books

Great or not, subject related books should be on your bookshelf, for obvious reasons. Considering the education system we have to deal with, it does become a necessity to have them, even if you don’t own them. These books include all the subjects that might have you to sit-and-write exams.

Here, we compile a list of must have books, you should read in your architecture programme!!

Image credit: Sketchup 4 architect

Inspiring Works

As you get interested in architecture, there always be some works that you will be inspired by, take a note of that and start reading and understanding the person and their works even more. Read books written about them and by them. Understand their design and life philosophies, their circumstantial existence and also how they dealt with it. Such books always help you design in a sense which you relate to and help you grow with a positive influence.

Image credit: Flickr/Brett

According to the Need of the Moment

If you are an architecture student, you must be facing the semester system, where you are asked to design according to the curriculum a kind of building typology, in such situations, it is better to read and have books related to the design studio and the requirements for the semester. For example, if the design studio for the semester has Residence, see the books which have details about residences, that just shouldn’t include designs, but also the ways spaces have been created in it, study the whole picture, not just plans and sections.

Image credit: Flickr/Paul Dawney

The Standards and Codes

To start a design and to build it in a city, there are certain standards and codes that have to be followed, and it is especially important to understand these standards and city or state building policies and codes while you are still learning and growing. Once out of college, it will not be easy to deal with it but it is always helpful if you are aware of dos and don’ts for your site. Two books always come up when you talk about the standards and codes, i.e. Indian Time Saver Standards and Neufert. These books also help to anthropologically design a space.

Here is selected must read books by industry expert!!

Image credit: Flickr/Dax Rowling

The Arts Other Than Architecture

If you are interested in Architecture, you might as well be interested in any other art form. No art can stand in itself, some other art always exists with it, may be not as profoundly, but definitely there. You might like reading, writing, playing an instrument, painting or cooking or anything else, keep it afloat. Have books that are related to the other art that you love, it will help you with the art of designing in architecture, will make you more understanding, because your perception has widened, and it indeed is necessary to be an architect.