Books
Hal Box

Think Like an Architect

An award-winning architect and educator demystifies the process of making architecture and explains why good architectural design matters.
The design of cities and buildings affects the quality of our lives. Making the built environments in which we live, work, and play useful, safe, comfortable, efficient, and as beautiful as possible is a universal quest.
What many don’t realize is that professional architects design only about five percent of the built environment. While much of what non-architects build is beautiful and useful, the ugliness and inconveniences that blight many urban areas demonstrate that an understanding of good architectural design is vital for creating livable buildings and public spaces. To help promote this understanding among non-architects and those considering architecture as a profession, award-winning architect and professor Hal Box explains the process from concept to completed building, using real-life examples to illustrate the principles involved.
To cause what we build to become architecture, we have three choices: hire an architect, become an architect, or learn to think like an architect. In this book, organized as a series of letters to students and friends, Box covers:
what architecture should be and dohow to look at and appreciate good buildingshow to understand the design process, work with an architect, or become an architectan overview of architectural history, with lists of books to read and buildings to seepractical guidance about what goes into constructing a buildingan architect’s typical training and career pathhow architecture relates to the citywhere the art of architecture is headedwhy good architecture matters
411 printed pages
Original publication
2010
Publication year
2009
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Quotes

  • Sophiehas quoted2 years ago
    FIRST, as you begin to experience a building, try to learn why it was built and what its function in the community was and is now, so you can understand it socially before you begin your physical understanding.
  • Sophiehas quoted2 years ago
    SECOND, raise your normal view and look up as you walk around. Much of the architect’s effort is above eye level. See how the light hits the surfaces. Notice the shape of the shadows. Notice the number of layers in the façade, starting with the layers of mass closest to you and receding to the window glass. Focus, in turn, on color, form, texture, proportion, rhythm, silhouette, mass. Look only for form for a bit, then look only for proportion, then the other elements of design—each in its own time.
  • Sophiehas quoted2 years ago
    THIRD, sense the space by the size and shape of the spaces, how they sound as you speak, and how the light slides in and bounces around. Sense the space formed by the building outside, and, as you go inside, see also how the spaces relate to each other and transition from one to another. Architecture being the art of space, it cannot be fully communicated in pictures, drawings, or words but must be sensed to be fully appreciated
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