At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Architecture books – and here are the answers.
Did you know? We have over 3,000 mentors available right now!
Understanding the concepts of Architecture starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.
The details can make a room. The bullnose edge of a marble countertop. The wood grain and color of the flooring. The particular pleat of the drape. Amber Lewis, the esteemed designer known for her signature California-inspired style, obsesses over the tiniest of features to create her eclectic, laid-back look. In Call It Home, she shares her secrets to choosing and applying fabric, paint, fini…
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
When a building is finished being built, that isn’t the end of its story. More than any other human artifacts, buildings improve with time—if they’re allowed to. Buildings adapt by being constantly refined and reshaped by their occupants, and in that way, architects can become artists of time rather than simply artists of space. From the connected farmhouses of New England to I.M. Pei’s Media …
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
Section, along with plan and elevation, is one of the most important representational techniques of architectural design. Manual of Section is the first book to provide a framework to describe and evaluate this fundamental design process in architecture.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
A "gentle manifesto for a nonstraightforward architecture," Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture expresses in the most compelling and original terms the postmodern rebellion against the purism of modernism.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
The Eyes of the Skin has become a classic of architectural theory and consists of two extended essays. The first surveys the historical development of the ocular-centric paradigm in western culture since the Greeks, and its impact on the experience of the world and the nature of architecture.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
“In Praise of Shadows” (In-ei Raison) is a long essay published in 1934, in which Tanizaki sums up what he feels Japan has lost in becoming modern. In brief, it is his view that the traditional Japanese arts thrived in the shade, and that the glaring light of the Twentieth Century is destroying them.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
These books are not required for you to learn Architecture, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.
First published in 1960, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age has become required reading in numerous courses on the history of modern architecture and is widely regarded as one of the definitive books on the modern movement.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
Engineering in Plain Sight extends the field guide genre from natural phenomena to human-made structures, making them approachable and understandable to non-engineers. It transforms readers' perspectives of the built environment, converting the act of looking at infrastructure from a mundane inevitability into an everyday diversion and joy.
Each section of this accessible, informative book …
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
Architecture: Form, Space, and Order distills complex concepts of design into a clear focus and brings difficult abstractions to life. The book explains form and space in relation to light, view, openings, and enclosures and explores the organization of space, and the elements and relationships of circulation, as well as proportion and scale. In addition, the text’s detailed illustrations demo…
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
Esta introducción clásica a los principios de la arquitectura analiza de manera sistemática y exhaustiva los fundamentos de la forma, el espacio y la ordenación arquitectónicos a partir de prototipos y de ejemplos históricos de todas las épocas, culturas y ámbitos geográficos. Partiendo de los elementos primarios hasta llegar a las composiciones arquitectónicas más complejas, el libro examina …
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
Architectural Digest’s editors have delved into the archives and culled years of rich material covering a variety of subjects. Ranging freely between present and past, the book features the personal spaces of dozens of private celebrities like Barack and Michelle Obama, David Bowie, Truman Capote, David Hockney, Michael Kors, and Diana Vreeland, and includes the work of top designers and archi…
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
If you enjoy decorating your own cozy room, this Little Corner Coloring Book is for you.
This book features 40 illustrations of places with super cute decor, such as a fully equipped kitchen, a dreamy bedroom, a wooden fireplace, and many more!
It's an ideal present for yourself, your family members, and your coloring buddy.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Architecture is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.
More than 350 color photographs celebrate the finest buildings from over two thousand years of civilization: Hagia Sophia, the Gothic cathedrals of Europe, Islamic masterworks at Isfahan, the Taj Mahal, the Palace of Westminster, Gehry's iconic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and much more.
Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise
This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.
There is no better source of accountability and motivation than having a personal mentor. What used to be impossible to find is now just two clicks away! All mentors are vetted & hands-on!
We've already delivered 1-on-1 mentorship to thousands of students, professionals, managers and executives. Even better, they've left an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for our mentors.
"Naz is an amazing person and a wonderful mentor. She is supportive and knowledgeable with extensive practical experience. Having been a manager at Netflix, she also knows a ton about working with teams at scale. Highly recommended."
"Brandon has been supporting me with a software engineering job hunt and has provided amazing value with his industry knowledge, tips unique to my situation and support as I prepared for my interviews and applications."
"Sandrina helped me improve as an engineer. Looking back, I took a huge step, beyond my expectations."
"Andrii is the best mentor I have ever met. He explains things clearly and helps to solve almost any problem. He taught me so many things about the world of Java in so a short period of time!"
"Greg is literally helping me achieve my dreams. I had very little idea of what I was doing – Greg was the missing piece that offered me down to earth guidance in business."
"Anna really helped me a lot. Her mentoring was very structured, she could answer all my questions and inspired me a lot. I can already see that this has made me even more successful with my agency."
