Product Description

This book presents 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.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. Each lesson utilizes a two-page format, with a brief explanation and an illustration that can range from diagrammatic to whimsical.The lesson on "How to Draw a Line" is illustrated by examples of good and bad lines; a lesson on the dangers of awkward floor level changes shows the television actor Dick Van Dyke in the midst of a pratfall; a discussion of the proportional differences between traditional and modern buildings features a drawing of a building split neatly in half between the two. Written by an architect and instructor who remembers well the fog of his own student days, "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" provides valuable guideposts for navigating the design studio and other classes in the architecture curriculum. Architecture graduates - from young designers to experienced practitioners - will turn to the book as well, for inspiration and a guide back to basics when solving a complex design problem.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3373 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

About the Author
Matthew Frederick is an architect and urban designer who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Boston Architectural College and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Customer Reviews

nicely produced and illustrated but few messages you won't already know
I read some reviews on amazon.com about how architecture students found this book invaluable. For sure, its a nicely produced hardback book, good illustration and clear layout - an image and text on each two page spread, and a lot of the advice seems to wander wildly from big, blue-sky thinking to specifics about US zoning and planning control. Some of the points are just downright pithy too - good architects are old - engineers know a lot about one thing, architects know a little about a lot of things. Overall, I was a tad disappointed - you can read the book in about 10 minutes flat and I think there were maybe two points I hadn't already thought of and was actively carrying around in my 'design-process' consciousness. Maybe this was always meant to be a book targetted for those at US architecture schools, rather than UK ones?

a book created to make money for the author and not much else...
I find it schocking that there is a book teaching the "correct way for an architect to draw a line" and more upsetting that people feel they need to be told how to do so.

If you have gone through architecture school as the book implies dont bother buying.

If you are yet to begin, just go through school and put the money towards something more useful.

great little book
I really enjoyed this book - lots of little things that make you think, and some really basic things that you probably wouldn't know unless you have finished architecture school. As I am just starting out, I thought it was great. Good tips for crits, drawing, etc.