Think Like an Architect

225 Pages·2007·72.24 MB·English

by  Hal Box

THINK LIKE AN ARCHITECT
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ROGER FULLINGTON
SERIES IN ARCHITECTURE
Production of this book
was made possible in
part by support from
Roger Fullington and
a challenge grant from
the National Endowment
for the Humanities.
ii | think like an architect
THINK LIKE AN ARCHITECT
HAL BOX
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN
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Copyright © 2007 Library of Congress
by the University of Texas Press Cataloging-in-Publication Data
All rights reserved Box, Hal.
Printed in the United States of America Think like an architect / Hal Box. — 1st ed.
Fourth paperback printing, 2009 p. cm. — (Roger Fullington series in
architecture)
Requests for permission to reproduce material Includes bibliographical references and
from this work should be sent to: index.
Permissions isbn 978-0-292-71635-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
University of Texas Press isbn 978-0-292-71636-0 (alk. paper)
P.O. Box 7819 1. Architecture. I. Title.
Austin, TX 78713-7819 na2550.b69 2007
www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html 720—dc22 2006038758
 ∞ The paper used in this book meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
frontispiece: San Nicolás
Tolentino, Nonoalco,
Hidalgo, Mexico, sixteenth
design and typography by teresa w. wingfield century.
ii  |  think like an architect
to my love, eden
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
PART ONE The Place
one Aspirations 3
two Dreaming and Seeing 11
three Finding the Best Buildings 21
four Exploring Ideas in Architecture 29
five Has Architecture Left the Building? 49
PART TWO The Ground Floor
six Making Architecture with an Architect 57
seven Becoming an Architect 69
eight Thinking Like an Architect: The Design Process 81
nine Visualizing with Drawings and Models, Pencils and Computers 97
ten The Critique 105
eleven Building Architecture: An Example 109
twelve Adding Meaning 123
thirteen Making Design Decisions 133
fourteen Style, Taste, and Design Theory 151
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PART THREE The Upper Levels
fifteen Making Connections 161
sixteen Finding Possibilities 177
Reading List 187
Seeing List 193
Photo Credits 199
Index 201
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PREFACE
If you want to make architecture rather again. In response, I’ve written, for this
than just a building, you have three choices: book, a group of letters to friends, col-
hire an architect, become an architect, or leagues, and you readers about the process
learn to think like an architect. This book is of making architecture. The letters describe
about all three; it addresses laypeople as aspirations for architecture and their fulfi ll-
well as students, afi cionados, builders, ment. They give a history of how architec-
developers, building committees, educa- ture became what it is today. They present
tors, and architects—and also those who ways of understanding and creating archi-
want to become architects. It concerns how tecture, and methods of arriving at the
successfully one makes investments and multitude of decisions required to create
how gracefully people can live their lives. good design.
My purpose is to communicate ways to This exploration can be extended infi -
give the necessary care to designing build- nitely from the Reading List and the Seeing
ings that’s needed to enhance the quality of List provided. Both offer ways to explore
life for the people who live with them as the intellectual, technical, and artistic
well as the environment around them. aspects of architecture broadly, in depth,
Through the years, I’ve discussed relevant and in actual experience—the real joy of
questions about architecture again and architecture.
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