Looking for the best books on architecture? Browse our interviews to find excellent book recommendations on architecture, architectural history, urban planning and design for your own library, or as gifts to give to the architect or architecture obsessive in your family. Dan Cruickshank on architectural history, Jeremy Till on architectural context, Timothy Hyde on aesthetics and more. Five Books is a comprehensive library of knowledge, curating book recommendations on any topic you might want to read about. Art interviews explore themes in the visual arts from ancient times to the present day with historians, curators, critics and practitioners. Our interviews range from engaging introductions to specialist subjects — such as the Dutch Masters, the Art Market, Leonardo, the Renaissance, Typeface, Interior Design — to in-depth explorations of more personal themes and inspirations. Our archive covers a vast array of subjects, extending well beyond the best-seller lists. In contrast to other online reviews, Five Books content is timeless and our contributors authoritative – these truly are the best books on everything. Browse the archive, or create your own lists of the best books in any category close to your heart, to share with like-minded readers everywhere. Is there a subject that piques your interest that you don't see on the site? Let us know by getting in contact with the editorial team.
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1
City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn
by William J. Mitchell -
2
The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture: City, Technology and Society in the Information Age
by Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José Morales, Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart & Willy Müller -
3
Cities In Civilization
by Peter Hall -
4
The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers and the Future of Urban Life
by Carlo Ratti & Matthew Claudel -
5
Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design and the Nature of Cities
by Nicholas de Monchaux
The best books on Future Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson
The best books on Future Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson
We are a city-dwelling species. Our urban existence creates both opportunities and challenges, as the recent pandemic has illustrated. One thing seems clear, however. Understanding the way we interact with our built environment is becoming an increasingly data-driven enterprise, as Davina Jackson argues compellingly in her book, Data Cities. Here, she shares the five books that best explain the technology behind the urban planning of the future.
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1
Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing
by John Boughton -
2
Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919-1956
by Sean Damer -
3
Scotland's Homes Fit for Heroes: Garden City Influences on the Development of Scottish Working Class Housing 1900 to 1939
by Lou Rosenburg -
4
State Housing in Britain
by Stephen Merrett -
5
Non-Traditional Houses: Identifying Non-Traditional Houses in the UK 1918-75
by Harry Harrison
Books on Social Housing in the UK, recommended by Mark Swenarton
Books on Social Housing in the UK, recommended by Mark Swenarton
How did the UK end up in a housing crisis? More than a century on from the 1919 Housing Act, a look back at the history of social housing with architectural historian Mark Swenarton provides some clues, and insights into the ennobling effect of architecture on peoples’ everyday lives.
The best books on Architecture and Aesthetics, recommended by Timothy Hyde
What’s at stake when we call a building beautiful or denounce it as ugly? MIT professor Timothy Hyde, author of Ugliness and Judgment, explores five books about the social, political and economic dimensions behind debates that often masquerade as arguments about style, but which deal with matters at the very heart of civil society.
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1
The Four Books on Architecture (I quattro libri dell'architettura)
by Andrea Palladio -
2
Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism
by Rudolf Wittkower -
3
Architect and Engineer
by Andrew Saint -
4
Modern Architecture Since 1900
by William Curtis -
5
Life in the English Country House
by Mark Girouard
The best books on Architectural History, recommended by Dan Cruickshank
The best books on Architectural History, recommended by Dan Cruickshank
Art historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank explains the beauty of Palladian proportions, takes us on a tour of some key English country houses and describes the poetry of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles. He recommends the best books on ‘architectural history’
The best books on British Buildings, recommended by Harry Mount
Bestselling author Harry Mount thinks that the British sell themselves short when they fail to appreciate their architecture. He also expresses his thanks that Christopher Wren didn’t redesign London on a Parisian/New York grid system following the 1666 fire.