Architecture Books for Summer Reading

I like making lists, and reading books. So here’s my idiosyncratic take on some significant /classic books you might like to read. It’s not in any particular order and it's a bibliographic tombola-potpourri-menagerie. I’m not sure why I stopped at 72 books - but the summer is here and you might like some ideas on what to read next.

The emphasis is clearly on the ‘tropical’ and late colonial period theme, but it does stray into culture, theory, and outsider art… I will have missed out so many, many valuable and important worthy editions - Please do comment on the books I’ve foolishly overlooked or need to read next… Happy Reading.

1.?Fry and Drew, Village Housing in the Tropics: 1947. I had to start with this one – it’s such a classic, and still a useful, if provocative volume on how a so-called ‘tropical’ village might be planned, constructed, and designed for efficiency, buildability, and climatic comfort.?

2. Adjaye, David and Peter Allison. 2016. Adjaye,?Africa, Architecture:?A Photographic Survey of Metropolitan Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson.

A photographic catalogue and extensive survey notes from across the entire African continent by leading practitioner and prize-winning architect David Adjaye. Essential for comparative analysis and impressive for its range and comprehensive approach.

3.?Bremner, Alex G. 2016.?Architecture and Urbanism in the British Empire.?Oxford: Oxford University Press. A broad survey arranged geographically; an important reference book with some leading scholars writing on the colonial approach to architecture and planning.

4.?Herz, Manuel. 2015.?African Modernism – the architecture of independence, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Zambia, C?te d’Ivoire.??Zurich: Park Books. A large format book that celebrates the modernist architecture of West Africa. The volume includes newly commissioned, often candid, photographs of these radical structures. Essential for any students of Architecture with an interest in this topic.?

5. Meuser, Phillip and Adil Dalbai. 2020.?Architectural Guide: Sub-Saharan Africa. Berlin: DOM Publishers. Seven volumes – packed with details, photographs, essays – this is easily the largest survey every undertaken on the architecture of Sub-Saharan African. It really sets the standard and is essential for any study / field work.

6.?Richards, James M. 1961.?New Buildings in the Commonwealth. London: Architectural Press. Richards was the editor of the journal, Architectural Review, and this volume collates some of the articles he published in the journal. The book is divided into various regions and Edwin Maxwell Fry presents the West Africa section. Written at the threshold of the colonial-independence period of flux it includes some relatively unknown and overlooked works.

7.?Fry, Maxwell and Jane Drew. 1956.?Tropical architecture in the humid zone. London: Batsford. Building on their earlier, more general work on Village housing, this volume presents a more data-centric approach and includes many architectural precedents from equatorial contexts.

8.?Koenigsberger, Otto. 1974.?Manual of Tropical Housing and Building. Harlow: Longmans. Useful for any students interested in designing for ‘tropical’ conditions. Still a classic and very important text despite being 50 years old.

9.?Crinson, Mark. 2003.?Modern architecture and the end of empire. Farnham: Ashgate. Essential reading. This global study has set the scene and provided the intellectual framework for almost every piece of research I’ve ever done.?

10.?Livsey, Tim. 2017.?Nigeria’s University Age: reframing decolonization and development. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Utilising extensive archival studies this is the first monograph to critically examine the architectural development of universities in Nigeria. Essential for not only understanding educational projects, but also their wider significance in the postcolonial context.

11.?Uduku, Ola. 2018.?Learning Spaces in Africa: Critical Histories to 21st Century Challenges and Change. London: Routledge.The first comprehensive survey and analysis of educational projects across Africa. Extensive research and analysis make this essential to understand how schools and education projects have shaped Africa’s built environment.

12.?Parker, John. 2000.?Making the Town: Ga State and Society in Early Colonial Accra. Oxford: James Currey. A history of the city that explains why Accra looks the way it does today. Very detailed and carefully researched, it is a great read for understanding the Ghanaian capital Accra.

13.?Quayson, Ato. 2014.?Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism’. Durham: Duke University Press. The culture and creativity of Accra fizz out from this exciting axis that cuts up from the coast. This book challenges the way the ‘African City’ is often discussed and offers an alternative view from the vantage point of an urban thoroughfare.

14.?Liora, B. 2009.?A History of Urban Planning in Two West African Colonial Capitals: Residential Segregation in British Lagos and French Dakar?(1850-1930).?Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press. One of the first transnational comparative studies between Anglo and French Colonial planning practices.?

15.?Njoh, A. 2012.?Urban Planning and Public Health in Africa; Historical, Theoretical and Practical Dimensions of a Continent’s Water and Sanitation Problematic. Farnham: Ashgate. A study of the African city through the lens of public health and utilities. Control the water and waste??- and control the people, is the central premise of the book.

16.?Silva, Nunes. 2015.?Urban Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial and Post-Colonial Planning Cultures. Routledge: London. Important for understanding the various planning approaches deployed in Africa along with the wider implications of these strategies.

17.?Trevallion Bernard. 1958.?Accra: a plan for the town. Accra: Ministry of Housing. A planning report for Accra produced to coincide with the political independence and to reimagine Accra as the capital not only of Ghana, but also as an important node for Pan African unity.?

18.?Godwin, John and Gillian Hopwood. 2007.?The architecture of Demas Nwoko. Lagos: Farafina.??A rare and difficult to find monograph, but packed with details and insightful essays and photographs by leading Lagos architects?Godwin and Hopwood.

19.?Levin, Ayala. 2022.?Architecture and Development: Israeli construction in Sub-Saharan Africa and the settler colonial imagination. Durham: Duke University Press. What were Israeli architects and development agents creating in West Africa? This book has the answers. An extraordinary research project and compelling narrative.

20. Stanek, ?ukasz. 2020.?Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Fascinating reading from a prize-winning author. This heavy tome full of beautiful drawings, plans, and photographs reframes how we think about modernism, colonialism, and the architecture of socialism. It is also packed with details about forgotten architects, design methods, and political shenanigans. A lesson on historiography and narrative.?

21.??“Africa through a lens”,?The National Archives,?https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/africa/ The UK National Archive hosts a vast photographic collection and they’ve digitised a large portion of it here. Arranged by country, this is a major resource for all scholars of architecture in Africa. No, it’s?not?a book - but this is my list and I can include what I like. It would make for a wonderful publication.?

22.?Evenson, Norma. 1966.?Chandigarh,?Berkeley : University of California Press. Indispensable for understanding the development of Chandigarh. Evenson offers a critical overview of the city (and the privately commissioned housing in particular) and the impossibility of producing a perfect piece of utopian urbanism.?

23.?Le Corbusier. 1957.?Oeuvre Complète 1952-1957.?Zurich: Girsberger. As the title explains, it’s the complete works produced by Le Corbusier and his atelier. This volume includes the major Chandigarh projects and Corbusier’s design rationale for the new town. I’m feeling embarrassed including a book by one of the Grand Masters – perhaps we need to stop talking about them. Strike out no. 24 and 25.

24.?Curtis, William. 1986.?Le Corbusier Ideas and Forms. London: Phaidon. Monograph on the life and works of Le Corbusier, See Chapter 13 for Le Corbusier in India: The symbolism of Chandigarh P188-201.

25. Frampton, Kenneth. 2001.?Le Corbusier. London: Thames and Hudson. Ideal volume for students eager for a condensed but carefully researched volume on Le Corbusier. See Chapter 11 Passage to India, that covers Chandigarh as well as Corbusier’s works in Ahmedabad.??Apologies for the flurry of Corb references… These books seem far less relevant now than they once did.

26.?Joshi, Kiran. 1999.?Documenting Chandigarh The Indian Architecture of Pierre Jeanneret, Edwin Maxwell Fry, Jane Beverly Drew, Volume 1. Ahmedabad: Mapin. This pioneering volume was the first to compile all of the works in Chandigarh designed by Jeanneret, Fry and Drew. The result is a scholarly and systematic catalogue of the projects including site plans, building plans, and sector analysis. Every housing type and sector layout is presented as well as the more recently defined ‘heritage zones’. Only Volume 1 has been published to date...

27.?Prakash Vikramaditya. 2012.?The Architecture of Shivdatt Shama. Ahmedabad: Mapin. A much awaited (and long anticipated) monograph devoted to one of the original Indian members of the Chandigarh design team. A fitting catalogue for a sensitive architect who expertly handled and evolved the so-called Chandigarh style.?

28.?Bhatia, Gautam. 1994.?Punjabi Baroque and other memories of architecture. New Delhi: Penguin Books. Despite Chandigarh’s modernist pedigree many private developments and recent additions introduced more flamboyant, eclectic, and decorative designs. This often humorous review gives a forthright analysis of these modifications found throughout Chandigarh.??

29. Avermaete, Tom and Casciato, Maristella. 2013.?Casablanca Chandigarh: A report on Modernization. Zurich: Park Books.Comparison on Michel Echochard’s planning approach in Morocco with that of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. Makes extensive use of archival material held at the Canadian Center for Architecture.

30. Lang, Jon, Desai M, and Desai, M. 1997.?Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity—India 1880 to 1980.?New York: Oxford University Press.? A pioneering publication covering a century of architecture throughout the vast territory of India. Many previously forgotten projects are discussed and carefully presented.

31. Steele, James. 1998.?Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World: the complete architecture of Balkrishna Doshi. New York: Whitney Library of Design. Classic monograph on one of India’s most celebrated and important architects. Doshi worked with both Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, and has gone on to produce a body of work that easily equals both of these 20th?century giants.

32.?Vale, Laurance. 1992.?Architecture, Power and National Identity. London: Yale University Press. Investigates how planned capital cities are clear manifestations in the game of building a nation-state, and inventing identity.

33. Chang, Jiat-Hwee. 2016.?A Genealogy of Tropical Architecture: Colonial Networks, Nature and Technoscience. London: Routledge. Focusing mainly on Singapore, Chang historicises the term ‘tropical’ and the development of building physics.

34.?Deborah van der Plaat, Janina Gosseye, Naomi Stead. 2019.?Speaking of Buildings: Oral History in Architectural Research.?Princeton Architectural Press. I really enjoyed reading this book, and have recommended it to all of my PhD students. The power of testimony, and valuing different voices from beyond the profession can generate some profound findings and new vantage points.

35. Benedict Anderson. 2016 edition.?Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso.??A classic book – and essential for understanding how we think about society and our sense of belonging.

36. Eric Hobsbawm. 2012.?The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press.?A perfect companion to Imagined Communities – Hobsbawm traces events, spectacles, and practices that seem ‘traditional’ and long standing – but in fact are rather recent ‘inventions’. What we think of as eternal – may only be a century old….

?37. Harvey, David. 1991.?The Condition of Postmodernity: An enquiry into the origins of cultural change. London: Blackwell. There’s some excellent architectural analysis in this book, as well as insightful research into economics and societal shifts during the last quarter of the 20th?C. Of all the books I’ve read, I think this one has made the most profound impact, along with no. 38 and 39.?

38. Said, Edward. 1978.?Orientalism How the west (Occident) imagines the east (Orient) through its literature, science, art, and culture. This book shifted the scholarly landscape – although it does present the Orient as a passive entity and lacking agency.

39. Fanon, Franz.?Black Skin, White Masks A study into the neo-colonial mindset and problems of the postcolonial condition.

40. Chinua Achebe,?Things Fall Apart, Penguin Classic, 2006. This is such an important book for understanding the impact of colonialism. It’s also a novel.??

41. Andrea Levy,?Small Island. Tinder Press, 2009. Another novel; that examines post-war Britain and the Windrush migration from the Caribbean. If you only read two books from this list make them no.40 and 41. Expect to be radically altered as a result.?

42. Calder, Barnabas. 2021.?Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency. Another important and timely book by Calder. Perhaps?the?most important book on this list for sharing with students today ….

43. James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. 2014.?Architecture since 1400. Minnesota Press. The long survey book can be a tedious tome with nothing to say – just a large collection of stylistic advances across the ages – but more recently there has been a more carefully constructed series of attempts at rethinking the survey – such as?A Global History of Architecture?and?A World History of Architecture. James-Chakraborty offers another take, with a careful inclusion of lesser known works and piecing together stories that have long been ignored.

44. Stella Paul,?Black: Architecture in Monochrome. Phaidon 2020. Buildings that are black. It’s such an odd premise for a book...

45. Herndanzez,?Bhabha for Architects, 2010, Routledge.A carefully written study into Bhabha, and helping to unlock somewhat difficult texts such as?The Location of Cultureand how these texts can be useful for thinking about architecture. Notions of mimicry, hybridity, and cultural exchange are all discussed.

46.?Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present. University of Pittsburgh Press. Bhabha and Said set out the theory (from a Literature perspective) then this book applies it to the built environment and the emergence of Modern architecture.

47.?Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic A masterpiece of historical analysis covering the pithy topics of witchcraft and faith.?

48.?Rachel Hewit, Map of a Nation: A biography of the Ordnance Survey Essential for all map fans eager to understand how maps were made before satellites and Google Earth (chains, triangulation and trigonometry).?

49. Sen, Amartya.?The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture, and Identity. Great essay writing and myth-crusher.

50. Leach, Neil. 1997.?Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge. An anthology of some of the key thinkers and philosophers on architecture/building/design from the 20thC. There’s a useful synopsis on each of the philosophers followed by an excerpt of their work, translated into English.

51. Calvino, Italo. 1997.?Invisible Cities. Vintage Classics. A wonderful stimulus and pure fantasy of tales told by Marco Polo to Emperor Kublai Khan. Interesting structure too – 55 cities are described across 9 chapters, arranged into thematic groups of 5. Have a look at?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Cities?to see how the book is set out.

52. Jacobs, Jane. 2020.?The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Bodley Head. Critique of the modernist development agenda. Title explains the concept.

53. Rossi, Aldo. 1984.?The Architecture of the City. MIT Press. Is there a persistence of form, and do we possess collective memory and we’re somehow born with? I don’t know, but Rossi seems to think so. Even if this notion is somewhat far-fetched, the persistence of certain forms/types is hard to dispute and Rossi’s classic thesis continues to provoke. The love of history, context, and precedent need not contradict an equal desire for modernism and radical design.?

54. Pallasmaa, Juhani. 2012.?The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Wiley. I first read this in the 90s and continue to return to it. It’s a very short and concise book – testament that good ideas can be expressed succinctly and without any fluff.?

55. Lengen van, Johan. 2007.?The Barefoot Architect: A handbook for green building. Shelter Publications.?One of my favourites and full of detailed pragmatic advice. It’s more of a survival guide / self-build alternative off-grid lifestyle approach than a green building manual.

56. Bhatia, Gautam. 1992.?Laurie Baker: Life, Work, Writings. Penguin. Baker is a much underrated architect – working with rich, but simple materials, his works are crafted sculpture and?modernly?rustic.?

57. Brian Taylor, 1995,?Geoffrey Bawa, Thames and Hudson. A monograph on one of Sri Lanka’s most prominent and important architects. Bawa’s drawings are included here too and reveal how he saw very little distinction between landscape, garden, and building.

58 Raj Rewal, 2013,?Raj Rewal, Innovative Architecture and Tradition, Om International One of the most interesting architects in India during the last 50 years. The Asian games complex in Delhi is carefully curated whilst appearing incremental and serendipitous.??

59 Robert Home, 2013,?Of Planting and Planning: The making of British Colonial Cities, Routledge. Home was one of the first scholars to work in this area, and to draw out the important connections between colonialism, planning, and architecture.??Republished by Routledge.

60. Lagae, Johan, 2013.?Kinshasa, CIVA. A pioneering and important study of the Congolese capital.?

61. Leach, Andrew. 2010.?What is Architectural History??Polity. Indeed.?

62. Benjamin, Walter. 2007.?Walter Benjamin’s: The Archive. Verso. Great drawings, puzzles, word play, and a glimpse into Benjamin’s methods and working practices.?

63. Benjamin, Walter. 2015.?Illuminations. Bodley Head. Contains the classic essays, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; and Unpacking my Library. Perfect essays and masterclasses in putting together delightful arguments.?

64. Stoler, Ann Laura. 2008.?Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Princeton University Press.

65. Price, Sally. 2002.?Primitive Art in Civilised Places. University of Chicago Press.

66. Jones, Paul. 2011.?The Sociology of Architecture. University of Liverpool Press. An important work on the relationships between the built environment, power, culture, and identity.

67. Füssel, Stephan, 2017.?Cities of the World. Taschen. A reprint of Braun’s colour maps/illustrations produced between 1572-1617. An extraordinary book, and a pure delight to browse. It’s a large, heavy format and comes with its own box sleeve. There are 300 cities from Europe, Asia, Africa, all drawn from a bird’s eye perspective…. There’s also an essay by?Rem Koolhaus?for some unknown reason.?

68. Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. 1977.?Learning from Las Vegas?is a classic, and surely must be read. But perhaps just as much can be learned from the?Las Vegas Lego?skyline kit. Make a copy of Vegas, then pull it down and build something else. What would Benjamin at no.63 make of this?

69. Tristram Hunt. 2014.?Ten Cities That Made An Empire. Penguin.?An enjoyable romp on the history of ten cities and their imperial past. Takes in Boston, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi, Liverpool….

70. Daniel Barber, 2020,?Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before air-conditioning., Princeton University Press Crucial reading for today, and complements Calder’s book nicely.?

71. John Maizels, 1996,?Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond, Phaidon. A compendium of self-taught art. The images are stunning and there’s an essay by Roger Cardinal (see 72) too.

72. Roger Cardinal. 1972.?Outsider Art. Studio Vista. Cardinal offered the term?Outsider Art?as an English translation for Dubuffet’s?Art Brut. It’s caused controversary ever since, and more inclusive and sensitive terms are now being offered – see?Slominski?for example. Putting the definition to one side – this book includes some fascinating essays and is the perfect introduction to the world of nonconforming art made by self-taught artists.?