List of my 10 Architecture Books that you should read

As a student of architecture, we learn through many ways, from studio to discussions, and lessons, but books remain the most important tresor to tap into. 

I wasn’t fond of reading at all, but through designing process & feeling immerse with architecture culture, you feel the need to learn & grow your knowledge, i remembered not finishing some classics because i didn’t understand it, so you read it again because it left an impact, i feel that some books are more valuable to you because they had resonance inside of you.

As the author Sir Francis Bacon said : "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." 

We often don’t make the time to read. Students and professionals alike will admit that the unread books on their shelves outnumber the ones they've read (Archdaily). Giving ourself 1hour/day to read can be really helpful through your personal culture.

This is a list of my 10 architecture books & others that you should set aside some time for, and i hope that can contribute to your architecture knowledge.The list covers a wide range of subjects from historical theory, art, to a novel or practical learning.

"The Ten Books of Architecture", 1960
Written by VITRUVIUS

"Towards a New Architecture", 1923
Written by LE CORBUSIER

"Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture", 1971
Written by ROBERT VENTURI

"Learning from Las Vegas", 1972
Written by R. VENTURI, D. BROWN, S. IZENOUR

"Silence and Light", 1996
Written by LOUIS KAHN

"Delirious New York", 1997
Written by REM KOOLHAAS

"The Future of Architecture", 1970
Written by FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

"Thinking Architecture", 2007
Written by PETER ZUMTHOR

"101 Things i learned in Architecture School", 2007
Written by MATTHEW FREDERICK

"The Fountainhead, 1996
Written by AYN RAND

List of Other Books: 

- The Seven Lamps of Architecture. John Ruskin

- The Architecture of the City. Aldo Rossi

- La désobéissance de l'architecte. Renzo Piano

- Modern Architecture: A Critical History. Kenneth Frampton

- Imaginer l'évidence. Alvaro Siza

- The Story of Art. E.H. Gombrich

-  Structures, or Why Things Don't Fall Down. J.Gordon

- The Architecture of Happiness. Alain De Botton

- The Poetics of Space. Gaston Bachelard

- The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment. Reyner Banham

- Atmospheres. Peter Zumthor

- The Modulor. Le Corbusier

- Collage City. Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter

- In Praise of Shadows. Junichiro Tanizaki

- Architecture for the Poor. Hassan Fathy

How many of you have read these books? and what resonance it left from it’s reading?

Are there any other books that I should add to list?

Cheers & Thanks for participating, 

When I met Souto de Moura : 10 Lessons i learned from my architecture studies "EAC"

Dear architecture students,
Back on school, a whole new year full of up & downsides will join you along your journey, i wish going back to this era of my life, after being graduated last year, i tought about sharing my experience, surivival, joy, anxiety, i imagined me asking myself “What would I tell myself when I was a freshman in architecture school?”

Example of Studio ©Bob Robson "Life of an Architect"

10 LESSONS I LEARNED FROM MY ARCHITECTURE STUDIES

There is a lot of things to say about, but i tought about picking the most important 10 things that was important for me and i hope fit will be useful for you.

1- Be Curious

 It’s the pillar of our profession, we are as architect designing project for human kind.., curiousity must be our nature, especially when during design, we tend to be close in all other related fields (History, Sociology, Physics, Mathematics, Art…). Having a strong general knowledge is really important.

2- Hand drawing is not a gift, it is a skill

Sketching & handrawing is an essential and helpful skill to help you materialize your ideas, i was horrible at first, but practicing 2 hours a day, drawing anything that surrounded me (buildings, trees, cars, birds, skies) helps me a lot to understand the space dimension, the proportion and express it on my projects.

3- Have your materials

Architecture require a lot of materials for project design (Ruller, Kutch, Square, Pens…), having on posession can increase effectively your productivity and it is essential also to draw, it’s like a doctor who doesn’t have his equipement to check your health, it’s useless.

4- Always carry a sketchbook consolidated with a calendar

I Learned this from my professor of 2nd year studio, sketching is parts of architects domain, and one of the most important tools an architect can do is get his ideas on paper, a sketchbook comes handy, i used him also during my travel, where i take notes, make some water colors, it makes me sketch the space & understand it quickly. As students, we are also bad at managing our time, having a calendar so we can plan our project tasks & deadlines each day can help us a lot, sincerely we don’t need to pull an all nighter, it’s doing harm more than good to get focus on school & project design.

Sketches in Venice, Italy

5- Idea aren’t gift from heaven, it’s patience & hardwork

An idea or a concept is something abstract, sometimes we don’t progress in our project because we somehow waiting for the great big concept to land on our sheets. An idea is something we work on, it’s documenting through references, trying to understand the site, asking good questions, talking about your projects when you can, all of this is wrapped by a constant patience & hardwork, and believe me, hard work is easy to see when a student develop his project vigorously.

6- A good oral & graphic presentation 

When the jury is arriving, i know from experience that things get rushed up & students get stressed quickly , it’s a normal feeling, but you should know that your professor know your project, it should gives you less stress, external jury can push our boundaries a little bit, but preparing our presentation for any questions related to the project or not is essential (1h), it help us also structure our idea to get the general concept and not focusing on minor details, the key is preparation & confidence.

7- Widen your vision

A problem that i’ve seen,  is the narrow vision that sometimes students can have by just focusing on studio & school tests without widen their vision to explore new things around, with a collaboration with my friend, we co-found the journal of architecture called « NG » stands for New Generation, and we have this vision to create, share between students a very active architecture culture and keep close the students between them, a platform where any motivated student can write an article in a subject that matter to us, it allowed us also to make interviews with a very known architects like the Pritzker Prize winner Souto de Moura & Siza who held a conference in Casablanca before, also Robert Reichen & many others...

"NG" Team

Meeting with the Master "Souto de Moura"

Dream Team picture , right to left (Lahbib Elmoumni - Benhamza Fatimzahra - Imad Dahmani)

Making some student architectural competition was a great moments for me & my partners, it’s an intense moment when we have the chance to test ourselves ta match deadlines & compare our level abroad, it gave us a sense of productivity & helped us a lot to evolve in our design & graphics.

Competition Statistics: 

Not done : 3

Losses : 5

Wins : 3

8- Sell your professor

He is like your mentor, his goal is to help & protect you along your path you choose, your professor isn’t here to do your project, but think as he is your « client », so when talking about your project, it’s crucial to clearly articulate your toughts & design direction so you can convince him that your idea is valid.

9- Read, own an architecture & art culture

I remember i hadn’t any architectural background or culture at first, 1 year later, i never left the library during my off hours, reading architecture or magazine, art, design books or other intellectual or art stuff helped me a lot during my studies to bring the best to my projects design and my vocabulary.

10- Educate your eye

As an architect, we need to get more awareness of the space where we live, so i recommend to visit architectural buildings, travel as much as possible & always sketch or take photographs to understand the quality of the space we use (light, views, form, function, proportion…)

Contemplation of Master's art work "Le Corbusier". Villa Savoye

Stay Bold

Imad Dahmani

MY 2016 GOALS & RESOLUTIONS

I've found that when declaring our goals & resolution at the beginning of each year, it created a powerful internal pressure to take action and raise my standards to achieve them.

When achieving some our big goals, we feel a sense of accomplishement and stay motivated to achieve even greater things in the future. I will be continuing to share my Monthly goals report to give a regular update where I'm at.

MY LIST OF 2016 GOALS AND RESOLUTIONS

As you will see, i categorized my goals into different areas, to ensure i'm making progress in every area of my life & being balanced, i am also sure that my goals are aligned with my life ultimate vision.

HEALTH & FITNESS

1. I will easily gain 3 Kg of muscle and weight 63kg and lose 1Kg and weight 74 kg of fat by December 31, 2016.

2. I will easily practice Boxing by December 31, 2016.

3. I will easily run & do fitness 3x week for 30 min by December 31, 2016.

4. I will easily run a marathon by December 31, 2016.

5. I will easily meditate 10 min each day for my morning routine by December 31, 2016.

FINANCES

1. I will easily make at least 15.000 dh/month of revenue by December 31, 2016.

2. I will easily save 50% to 70% of income for future investements by December 31, 2016.

BUSINESS & CAREER

1. I will easily work at a great Moroccan Architecture office by December 31, 2016.
2. I will easilly Learn Arch Softawres (Rhino - Revit)  by December 31, 2016.
3. Learn & Practice Photography by December 31, 2016.
4. Learn & Practice Drawing & Sketching by December 31, 2016.
5. I will easily work as an Assistant Professor at a school of Architecture by December 31, 2016.
6. I will easily make a lecture abroad in Zagreb to present my Thesis about Brutalism Architecture in Morocco by December 31, 2016.
7. I will easily prepare a conference with colleagues to celebrate the 100th Birthday of Zevacoby December 31, 2016.
8. I will easily held with colleagues an Architecture Workshop By December 31, 2016.
9. I will easily sell a property to gain a profit by December 31, 2016.
10. I will easily raise a capital to attend the Success team for Real Estate investement training by December 31, 2016.
11. I will easily launch my own Architecture & Life Blog by December 31, 2016.
12. I will easily publish 30 Blog Posts in the blog by December 31, 2016.
13. I will easily launch my Facebook Fan page by December 31, 2016.
14. I will easily launch my Youtube channel & Post 3 videos by December 31, 2016.
15. I will easily have at least 3000 viewers on my Architecture & Life Blog by December 31, 2016.
16. I will easily have at least 1000 followers on my Facebook Fan page by December 31, 2016.
17. I will easily have at least 500 followers of my Twitter Fan account by December 31, 2016.
18. I will easily have at least 500 followers in my Instagram account by December 31, 2016.
19. I will easily have 100 subscriber on my Pinterest by December 31, 2016.
20. I will easily have 100 subscriber on my Google+ Pageby December 31, 2016.

TRAVEL / LIFESTYLE / PERSONAL DEVELOPEMENT

1. I will easily complete my morning & night ritual at least 5 days/week by December 31, 2016.
2. Learn to play basics of Piano by December 31, 2016.
3. I will easily plan & organize 1 fun activity with friends every morning by December 31, 2016.
4. I will easily travel 1 week on a boudhist temple on Thailand for a spiritual journey by December 31, 2016.
5. I will easily read, listen to 10 books to share wisdom & knowledge with people by December 31, 2016.
- ECONOMIX. Michael Goodwin

- The Art of social media. Guy Kawasaki

- The Secret. Rhonda Byrne

- Twelve years a slave. Solomon Northup

- Leaders eat last. Simon Sinek

- The One thing. Gary Keller / Jay Papasan

- Elon Musk. Ashlee Vance.

- Vers une architecture. Le Corbusier

- Junkspace. Rem Koolhaas

- Ethique à Nicomaque. Aristote

CONTRIBUTION

1. I will easily raise help people in need as possible by December 31, 2016.

2. I will easily give 5% of my income to charity or people in need by December 31, 2016.

ACQUISITION

1. I will easily buy personal items (Rayban Wayfarer / Macbook Pro 15' Retina / Beats Head phone) by December 31, 2016.