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Welcome to the RIBA Bookshops list of Recommended Books
Please take moment to browse our updated list of recommended reading from RIBA Bookshops. For a wider selection of the very latest new titles on architecture, design and construction, please visit our website www.ribabookshops.com
| Books for Students | |
 | Part 3 Handbook: Questions of Professional Practice Stephen Brookhouse RIBA Publishing January 2007 Your decision to take the final step to become a fully qualified architect and sit the Part 3 exam is a journey into the unknown. While the reward for success is a stimulating, challenging career in a highly valued profession with wide scope for specialisation, the sacrifices along the way and risk of failure can seem daunting. Fortunately, and for the first time, the Part 3 Handbook demystifies the whole process of qualifying, dispelling commonly held myths and offering genuine insight into what examiners really want. |
 | Constructing Architecture: Materials, Structures, Processes: A Handbook Andrea Deplazes Birkhauser July 2008 This internationally prizewinning volume now appears in its second, revised and expanded edition. Since the first edition was published in 2005, it has been adopted as a textbook at many universities. Neatly organised into comprehensive sections on materials, elements, structures, components and buildings, it is regarded as one of the best textbooks in the field of architecture and city planning. |
 | Shortcuts Book 1: Structure and Fabric Austin Williams NBS March 2009 Shortcuts provide an eclectic mix of at-a-glance guides to the minefield of regulations, new materials, and technologies that confront building designers today. Comprising hand-drawn sketches, technical drawings, and punchy articles, each Shortcut takes you right to the heart of a key topic in architecture and construction, presenting a wealth of invaluable information in an accessible and lively way. Shortcuts: Book 1 focuses on issues to do with the structure and fabric of buildings. Grouped into four main subject areas (Structure; Fabric and Finishes; Fixtures and Fittings; and Drainage) the Shortcuts range from rainscreen cladding to fire protection, from lofts to lifts, and from LEDs to SUDS. |
 | Shortcuts Book 2: Sustainability and Practice Austin Williams NBS March 2009 Shortcuts provide an eclectic mix of at-a-glance guides to the minefield of regulations, new materials, and technologies that confront building designers today. Comprising hand-drawn sketches, technical drawings, and punchy articles, each Shortcut takes you right to the heart of a key topic in architecture and construction, presenting a wealth of invaluable information in an accessible and lively way. Shortcuts: Book 2 explores the issues that affect the way building designers work, with topics grouped into chapters on Energy Conservation; Sustainability; Working Practices; Health and Safety; and Legislation and Guidance. The shortcuts range from zero carbon energy sources to green roofs, and from drawing conventions to contracts and case law. |
 | Understanding Green Building Guidelines: For Students and Young Professionals Traci Rose Rider Norton October 2009 Understanding Green Building Guidelines summarises the main issues and strategies of the forceful and fast-paced green building movement. |
 | Building Regulations in Brief Ray Tricker Butterworth-Heinemann August 2007 Baffled by the Building Regs? Confused by codes of practice? Mystified by materials and puzzled by planning permission? Then look no further! This handy and affordable guide is a time-saver for both professionals and enthusiasts. The information is sensibly organised by building element rather than by regulation, so that you can quickly lay your hands on whatever you need to know from whichever document. The authors practical and no-nonsense advice will enable you to comply with the regulations in the simplest and most cost-effective manner. The benefits and requirements of each regulation are clearly explained, as are history, current status, associated documentation and how local authorities and council view their importance. This new edition includes the new Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and what this means for Part B (Fire Safety), the updates to Part L (Energy Efficiency), an improved user-friendly index and annexes covering topics such as access and facilities for disabled people, conservation of fuel and power, sound insulation and more. |
 | JCT 2005 Clause by Clause Phil Griffiths Elsevier October 2009 This easy-to-follow guide takes the reader through the JCT 2005 building contracts clause by clause, in an easy-to-follow format, in simple but effective language that eliminates misinterpretation. Spilt into 3 sections, this book provides a summary of the current JCT Contracts, identifying which to use for what type of work, along with an analysis of their risk, liability, documentation, design responsibility and financial procedures, ensuring that JCT 2005 Building Contract: clause by clause is the vital, definitive reference for the aspiring construction professional. |
 | Architectural Graphic Standards - Student Edition: An Abridgment of the Eleventh Edition Bruce Bassler John Wiley & Sons, Inc. April 2008 This student edition, carefully abridged from the eleventh edition of Architectural Graphic Standards, features the richly detailed graphics and texts that have made Architectural Graphic Standards a classic, updated and reorganised in a way that is relevant to today's student. The wide variety of topics covered allows students to use the book throughout their architecture education and into the early stages of professional practice. Thousands of illustrations and a rich index offer immediate access to virtually any architectural element. |
 | The Rough Guide to Sustainability Brian Edwards RIBA Publishing February 2010 This is a comprehensively updated, restructured and expanded new edition of this non-nonsense student and practice primer equips the contemporary architect to deal with the profession's most important challenge: designing buildings for sustainability. |
 | Architecture Student's Bundle The Metric Handbook, The Architect's Pocket Book and The Dictionary of Architecture and Building Construction Nikolas Davies David Littlefield Charlotte Baden-Powell Architectural Press September 2008 Combining two bestselling references and a brand new dictionary, this essential bundle provides complete coverage for the architecture student at a great price! The 3 books contain technical guidance that that will help to ground projects in reality, information that will be referred to time and again. |
| Architecture Practice | |
 | Architect's Job Book - 8th Edition 3DReid RIBA Publishing July 2008 The Architect's Job Book is the Royal Institute of British Architects' long-established and recognised standard reference work for running architectural jobs and administering construction contracts. Providing a systematic operational framework that can be applied to any building type or procurement method, its comprehensive scope is logically laid out along the RIBA's Outline Plan of Work 2007. |
 | Green Guide to the Architect's Job Book Sandy Halliday RIBA Publishing August 2007 2nd edition The Green Guide to the Architect's Job Book is a highly readable process map through the complexities of design and construction to aid the successful delivery of long-term sustainability in our built environment. Totally up-to-date and compatible with the Architect's Job Book, the Green Guide nonetheless stands alone as a straightforward, practical aide-memoire based on hard-won experience in the real world for architects and, importantly, project managers and clients, many of whom are actively seeking sustainable buildings. |
 | Plan of Work: Multi-Disciplinary Services Roland Phillips RIBA Publishing July 2008 Plan of Work: Multi-Disciplinary Services is the new edition of the guide to the RIBA Outline Plan of Work 2007, the de facto standard project framework used by the construction industry. Now updated to reflect current procurement practice and the consequences of better risk management, this guide describes how the different parties in the contemporary multi-disciplinary team can work together effectively to complete work stages. |
 | Good Practice Guide: Marketing Your Practice Helen Elias RIBA Publishing January 2010 Drawing on the expertise of a range of industry insiders, this practical and accessible guide shows how effective marketing can give your practice the edge.With examples, tips, and guidelines that can easily be applied to a practice of any size, Marketing your Practice brings together specialists in marketing, business development, and communications to present clear advice for architects on a range of essential marketing topics. From defining a strategy that meets your practice needs, to PR, advertising, new business development and successful award entries, the book reveals that marketing is as much about positioning and steering the business as it is about communicating the range and quality of services on offer. Altogether, it shows how intelligent and cost-effective marketing can play a vital role in the success of any architectural practice. |
 | Good Practice Guide: Fee Management Roland Phillips RIBA Publishing November 2009 Fee Management is a straightforward professional guide for architects about calculating and negotiating fees to maximise profits. The advice puts equal emphasis on good administrative procedures and on the softer skills of negotiation and selling the architects unique ability to add value to construction projects. Packed with worked examples and comprehensive in its coverage, it explores how to evaluate costs, explains the anatomy of a fee offer, and advises on getting paid. Outlining the essential management tools for keeping track of the whole process, this easy-to-read guide also explains the ins-and-outs of cash flow, accounting and the jargon behind VAT, and sets out the Golden rules for a healthy fee regime. You are more likely to become involved in a legal dispute over your fees than any other issue in your practice. |
 | Good Practice Guide: Negotiating the Planning Maze John Collins and Philip Moren RIBA Publishing November 2009 Aimed not only at architects and developers, this fully updated new edition of this popular RIBA Good Practice Guide offers concise and accessible practical guidance to the many other construction professionals, private individuals and interest groups who struggle to find their way around the complex and expanding planning maze in England and Wales. It explains how to deal effectively with – and avoid the pitfalls of – the recently revised plan-making regime and the planning application process, and how to keep abreast with further expected changes in planning law and practice. |
 | A guide to letter contracts: for very small projects, surveys and reports Roland Phillips RIBA Publishing June 2009 On very small projects, many architects prefer to formalise their appointment by means of a letter rather than lengthier standard RIBA Agreements. A guide to letter contracts presents for the first time a safe way to word a letter contract for very small projects and points out the risks and pitfalls to avoid when using letter contracts, thus ensuring that your letter contracts are suitable for the project in hand. |
 | Which Contract? 4th edition: Choosing the appropriate building contract Sarah Lupton, Stanley Cox and Hugh Clamp RIBA Publishing July 2007 The indispensable Which Contract? Fourth Edition is the most up-to-date and reliable comparative analysis of the burgeoning number of standard forms of building contract currently available in the UK. Ever since its first publication in 1989, architects and other construction professionals have been turning to Which Contract? for guidance on what procurement strategies to adopt and how to identify the most appropriate contract for a given set of circumstances. It has now been updated to take account of the latest editions of all the recognised standard forms, particularly the JCT and NEC forms, while its introductory chapters have been substantially revised to reflect changes in the contemporary contract procurement landscape. |
 | Architect's Pocket Book Charlotte Baden-Powell Architectural Press April 2008 Third Edition This handy pocket book brings together a wealth of useful information that architects need on a daily basis - on site or in the studio. The book is full of tips and tricks of the trade, from complying with the Building Regs, to helping with planning, measurement and detailing. This third edition is fully updated and includes new information and guidance on critical sustainable design issues. |
 | Metric Handbook Planning and Design Data David Littlefield Architectural Press January 2008 Originally devised as a guide for converting from imperial to metric measurements, The Metric Handbook has since been totally transformed into the major handbook of planning and design data for architects. This new edition has been updated to account of the most recent changes to regulation and practice – in particular the increasing emphasis on environmental legislation - to meet the needs of the modern building design professional. |
 | 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts Barbee Davis O'Reilly September 2009 This illuminating book contains 97 short and extremely practical tips from some of the world's most experienced project managers and software developers. You'll learn how these professionals have dealt with everything from managing teams to handling project stakeholders to runaway meetings and more. 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know offers knowledge that's priceless, gained the hard way through years of experience. While this book often highlights software projects, its nuggets of wisdom contain the project management principles applicable to projects of all types in any industry. You can read the book end to end, or browse through the tips to find topics that are of particular relevance to you. |
 | Project Management Demystified Geoff Reiss Taylor and Francis October 2007 Concise, practical and entertaining to read, this excellent introduction to project management is an indispensable book for both professionals and students working in or studying project management in business, engineering or the public sector. Approachable and written in an easy-to-use style, it shows readers how, where and when to use the various project management techniques, demonstrating how to achieve efficient management of human, material and financial resources to make major contributions to projects and be an appreciated and successful project manager. |
 | Transmaterial 3 Blaine Brownell Princeton Architectural Press March 2010 Since the 2006 publication of his best-selling first volume of Transmaterial, author Blaine Brownell has become the undisputed master of new materials, inspiring architects and designers looking to transform the structure, spaces, and surfaces of their projects with the latest high-tech and environmentally friendly products. |
| Legal | |
 | Architects Legal Handbook: 9th edition Elsevier February 2010 Architect's Legal Handbook is the most widely used reference on the law for architects in practice, and the established leading textbook on law for architectural students. The ninth edition includes all the latest development in the law that affect an architect’s work, and comprehensive coverage of relevant UK law topics. Most significantly, the chapter on the JCT contracts has been completely revised to cover the 2005 update. |
 | Party Walls: A Practical Guide Nicol Stuart Morrow RIBA Publishing January 2010 Party Walls: a Practical Guide explores and explains the many practical implications of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. The Act frequently impacts on the design, scheduling, and construction of building projects, and it is important that those affected are able to negotiate its complexities. This book provides a clear and accessible guide to the legislation and the practical considerations for those whose work involves Party Walls – not just for architects and other built environment professionals, but for clients too, or indeed anyone acting as a Party Wall Surveyor in the resolution of a dispute. Along the way, it shows the wide range of benefits – including benefits to the building design itself and to the financial bottom line of the whole project – that are open to the architect who is able to manage party wall issues competently. |
 | Good Practice Guide: Mediation Andy Grossman RIBA Publishing May 2009 |
 | Dispute Avoidance A non-confrontational approach to the management of construction contracts D. Bryan Morgan RIBA Publishing August 2008 Dispute Avoidance is a practical management primer for construction professionals based on over forty years' hard-won commercial construction contract experience around the world. |
 | ConstructionSkills Managerial & Professional Health & Safety Test: All the Questions and Answers: 2009 ConstructionSkills January 2010 This guide has been written to help you prepare for the Managerial and professional Health and Safety Test. The purpose of the test is to help reinforce the existing health and safety knowledge of professionally qualified persons who, although engaged in the project, are not based on site. Legislation and professional Codes of Conduct place obligations upon professionally qualified people to assess a situation and respond in an appropriate way. The Managerial and Professional Health and Safety Test helps provide information on common site hazards and how the professional person may be expected to react. |
 | Code for Sustainable Homes: Technical Guide: Version 2 May 2009 DCLG RIBA Publishing June 2009 This new May 2009 edition of the Code for Sustainable Homes: Technical Guide has been updated following industry feedback. It provides in-depth information to support the Governments Code for Sustainable Homes, the national environmental assessment method for rating and clarifying the performance of new homes. The Technical Guide is an essential reference for construction professionals wanting to understand the technical background to and process of achieving a Code rating for new build homes. |
 | NBS Domestic Specification 2nd edition: Specification template for small residential building projects NBS RIBA Publishing November 2008 Using the NBS Domestic Specification - a very accurate written description of the products and materials to be used in a building or extending a house - will improve quality, save time, reduce uncertainty and help to avoid disputes. A concise, comprehensive and user-friendly tool for writing specifications for use on small domestic projects, this new edition has been updated and redesigned to make it even easier to use. |
 | Legislation Maze Series: Fire, Noise and Inclusive Accessible Design (3 Pack) RIBA Publishing July 2007 The Legislation Maze series comprises short, easy-to-use topic-based guides for architects, construction professionals and students in construction-related fields. Under the editorial management of highly respected architects Sarah Lupton and Manos Stellakis, it focuses on aspects of design and job management controlled by legislation, regulations and codes where these are otherwise difficult and time-consuming to assimilate. The series covers the three areas Fire, Noise and Accessibility. |
| Architectural Theory | |
 | Collected Essays in Architectural Criticism Alan Colquhoun Black Dog Publishing December 2009 This book includes essays from throughout Colquhoun’s distinguished career. In his early writing Colquhoun subjects modern architecture to a far more thorough reading than was then customary. His meticulous evaluation of Modernism raised the standard of architectural historiography and has influenced new directions in theory and practice ever since. C ollected Essays in Architectural Criticism encompasses the clarity of style and rigorous, erudite analysis that Colquhoun has brought to bear on a diverse range of subjects, including Le Corbusier, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the Pompidou Centre, Postmodernism and the design of museums. |
 | Pragmatic Sustainability: Theoretical and Practical Tools Routledge January 2010 Though many disciplines have been advocating the need to create a world which is sustainable, too often the theories and ideas are discipline specific and too narrow for comprehensive adoption. The authors of this book– all leading thinkers in their fields – instead propose a more general way of thinking, a pragmatic and pluralistic approach. Rather than suggesting a single solution to the problem of how to live sustainably, this collection instead discusses broader approaches to social and environmental change. |
 | Diagrams of Architecture: AD Reader Mark Garcia Wiley December 2009 This book will provide a definitive reader, compiling essays from previously published texts and newly commissioned essays from leading academics, architects and other specialists, each text is prefaced by a brief critical and accessible introduction by Mark Garcia and illustrated with the first-ever collection of spatial design diagrams by architects, engineers, academics and designers from around the world. Case-study single-page and double page spread ‘capsules’ distributed throughout the book describe the creation, meaning and importance of the most important diagrams in today’s leading-edge exemplars of interior, architectural, landscape and urban design. |
 | Drawing - The Motive Force Of Architecture: AD Primer Peter Cook Wiley May 2008 Focusing on the creative and inventive significance of drawing for architecture, Drawinghighlights the work of key contemporary figures who have, through their drawn work, affected the course of architectural thinking. Drawing charts the forward movement and expansion of drawing iconography, techniques and methodologies, and moves logically from such conditions as Victorian romanticism; Modernist heroics, Minimalism, diagrams, the representation (and inspiration) of movement, technology and motive power; through to notions and examples of digital automatism. |
 | Architecture Depends Jeremy Till MIT Press February 2009 Architecture depends - on what? On people, time, politics, ethics, mess: the real world. Architecture, Jeremy Till argues with conviction in this engaging, sometimes pugnacious book, is dependent on things outside itself. Despite the claims of architects to autonomy, purity, and control, architecture is buffeted by uncertainty and contingency. Circumstances invariably intervene to upset the architect's best-laid plans - at every stage in the process, from design through construction to occupancy. Architects, however, tend to deny this, fearing contingency and preferring to pursue perfection. |
 | The Architecture of Emergence The Evolution of Form in Nature and Civilisation Michael Weinstock Wiley Feburary 2010 Emergence is one of the most exciting new fields in architecture today, gaining interest from not only academics and students but also leading professionals, with directors from Fosters, Arup and Bentley Systems all attending the most recent symposium on the subject at the Architects Association, London. |
 | Architects Brain: Neuroscience, Creativity, and Architecture Harry Francis Mallgrave Wiley January 2010 The Architect's Brain: Neuroscience, Creativity, and Architecture is the first book to consider the relationship between the neurosciences and architecture, offering a compelling and provocative study in the field of architectural theory. |
 | The Enemies of Progress: Dangers of Sustainability Austin Williams Imprint Academic June 2008 This polemical book examines the concept of sustainability and presents a critical exploration of its influence on society. The author's core contention is that 'sustainability', manifested in several guises, represents a pernicious and corrosive doctrine that has survived primarily because there seems to be no alternative to its canon: in effect, he argues, its bi-partisan appeal has depressed critical engagement and neutered politics. |
| Architects and their Projects | |
 | Architecture 09: RIBA Buildings of the Year Tony Chapman Merrell Publishers December 2009 Architecture 09 is the official guide to the work of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and all RIBA Awards presented in 2009. The featured awards include the prestigious Stirling Prize, awarded to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution in the past year to the evolution of architecture and the built environment, and the Royal Gold Medal, conferred on a distinguished architect. Also included for the first time are the Housing Design Awards, the Student Awards, and International and Honorary Fellowships, together with an essay on 'The Year in Architecture' by the President of the RIBA and an exploration of the sustainability of buildings that have won previous RIBA Awards. Featuring projects of all types worldwide by both established and emerging practices, this informative book is essential reading for anyone interested in recent developments in contemporary architecture. |
 | Twentieth Century Architects: McMorran & Whitby Edward Denison RIBA Publishing October 2009 McMorran & Whitby are a secret presence in post-war British architecture. Led from the late 1950s by Donald McMorran and George Whitby, the practice represented an unbroken development from the monumental inter-war classicism represented by figures such as Charles Holden and Sir Edwin Lutyens. |
 | Twentieth Century Architects: Aldington, Craig and Collinge Alan Powers RIBA Publishing November 2009 Peter Aldington started his independent architectural practice in 1962, quickly earning an international reputation for designing small houses that respected their village locations and achieved magical transitions between interior and garden. John Craig then became a partner in the practice in 1970 and they went on to design ground-breaking doctors' group practice surgeries, shops, office interiors and public housing. With the Royal Mail and Hemel Hempstead in the mid 1980s, Aldington, Craig and their younger partner, Paul Collinge, produced their own version of 'high tech'. |
 | David Chipperfield: Form Matters David Chipperfield Thames & Hudson December 2009 This collection of sketches, plans and illustrations of built and unbuilt projects documents a selection of work produced by David Chipperfield in the 25 years since he established his own architectural practice. A series of short essays accompanies the images, in which he considers form, language, materiality and composition. |
 | Chandigarh 1956 Ernst Scheidegger Scheidegger und Spiess AG March 2010 Le Corbusier's masterplan and buildings for Chandigarh, capital of the Indian federal state of Punjab, is a landmark of 20th century architecture and urban planning. The Swiss photographer Ernst Scheidegger, founder member of the Magnum agency and famous for his pictures of the artist Alberto Giacometti, travelled to India and to Chandigarh several times in the 1950s, where he took a large number of photographs of the growing new city, its government buildings and also of the local people and their living conditions. From this material he made a mock-up for a book, Chandigarh 1956, illustrated also with sketches and drawings by Le Corbusier. These equally striking and illuminative photographs are published here for the first time. |
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RIBA Product Selector
A directory of manufacturers and suppliers of building products. Available FREE at www.ribaproductselector.com | |
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NBS Educator
A learning resource that helps bring you up to speed on all forms of contract documentation. Developed as a series of modules, NBS Educator can be used to strengthen core skills in specification. | |
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