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The Best Interior Design and Architecture Books
Words Barbara Akinkunmi
Interior Design Books
Learning with Aurelie Tshiama: First Edition by Aurelie Tshiama
This is the first Interior Design book I would 100% recommend. It’s perfect for Interior Designers who are either well into their career or still aspiring. The hardback version of the book includes the information Aurelie picked up throughout her first year, with project checklists and a gallery of the work she has done over the year. This is the first of a ten-year decor book collection, where Aurelie will release a new hardback book in June of each year, documenting her stories and work over that past year. Each buyer will be offered an exclusive membership where they will have access to behind-the-scenes access to Aurelie's current and upcoming life projects.
The e-book version contains all the little bits of information she learnt over the past year since the start of her career in June 2019. Finding it difficult to easily navigate the basic information that an aspiring interior designer should know, she created this mini handbook - so mini that it fits in your electronic devices. It has everything, including project checklist printouts for all your projects!
Aurelie also runs a masterclass where everything you learn in the course is taught to you from a personal point of view and from live life experiences!
Where to buy the Hardback & e-book: Clampagency
Price: Hardback £54.99 (includes £4.99 shipping fee). Expected delivery: 3-4 weeks.
E-book £20
Where to buy the masterclass: Aurelie Tshiama
Price: £35 one-time payment or 2 payments of £17.50/month
The beauty of home: redefining traditional interiors by Marie Flanigan
The Beauty of Home gives a fresh perspective on traditional interior design, combining elegance and innovative simplicity. The book dives deeper into the nine elements that define her work, including architecture, illumination, composition, and surprise. Within the book, Marie reveals her creative process and the essential elements for curating her signature blend of approachable elegance.
Marie Flanigan is an award-winning interior designer, who originally trained as an architect. For more than a decade, Marie has crafted well-articulated spaces that expertly reflect the stories of those who dwell within. Marie's projects elevate the everyday, soulfully revealing the true beauty of home.
Where to buy: Amazon, Waterstones, Book Depository and Barnes & Noble
Price: £35
How to Make a House a Home: Creating a Purposeful, Personal Space by Ariel Kaye
This book is more than just a stylish design book; it teaches you how to design a home that's not only beautiful, but mindful, functional, and nurturing. Ariel Kaye offers great tips and clear guidance on how to find your own personal design aesthetic, making this book not only a go-to resource, but also a journey of self-discovery. It covers everything you need to know to infuse your house - big or small - with mindful choices, including colour palettes, textures, organization, house plants, furniture, and ambiance (think lighting, scents, and music) to make it uniquely you.
How to Make a House a Home draws parallels between decorating and setting up a room and your own well-being, so that every space is not only tailored to your personal aesthetic, but also to your mental and emotional health. Whether you're renting an apartment or looking for new inspiration in your house, with How to Make a House a Home, you'll have all the guidance you need to make a space that suits your needs and soothes your mind.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s, Abe Books, Wordery, Book Depository and Barnes & Noble
Price: Hardcover £15-£20, Kindle Edition £10-£15
The White Company, For the Love of White: The White & Neutral Home by Chrissie Rucker
For the Love of White offers the definitive guide to creating a home with white and neutral tones, no matter the type of home you live in. The book explores 12 inspirational homes in varied decorating styles but unified by a passion for a white. For each location, Chrissie Rucker highlights clever styling details that the reader can try out in their own home - with calming, versatile and beautiful results.
Illustrated with specially commissioned photography by leading interiors photographer, the book provides both the advice and the inspiration needed to transform your home.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s, WHSmith, Wordery, The White Company website and Waterstones
Price: Hardcopy £20-£30, Kindle Edition £7-£10
The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book: Everything Interior Designers Need to Know Everyday by Chris Grimley and Mimi Love
The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book collects the information essential to planning and executing interior projects of all shapes and sizes. You’ll also find interviews with top practitioners drawn across the field of interior design.
Fundamentals provides a step-by-step overview of an interiors project, describing the scope of professional services, the project schedule, and the design and presentation tools used by designers.
Space examines ways of composing rooms as spatial environments while speaking to functional and life-safety concerns.
Surface identifies options in colour, material, texture, and pattern, while addressing maintenance and performance issues.
Environments looks at aspects of interior design that help create a specific mood or character, such as natural and artificial lighting, sound and smell.
Elements describes the selection and specification of furniture and fixtures, as well as other components essential to an interior environment, such as artwork and accessories.
Resources gathers a wealth of useful data, from sustainability guidelines to online sources for interiors-related research.
Where to buy: Blackwell’s, Wordery, WH Smith, Book Depository, Amazon and Abe Books
Price: Paperback £15-£20, Hardback £40-£45
Architecture Books
Design Like You Give a Damn 2: Building Change from the Ground Up, Architecture for Humanity by Cameron Sinclair
This would be my first recommendation because I love architecture that helps to solve problems for humanity and helps meet real life needs. This book isn’t your typical architecture book; it’s an inspiration design manual that offers practical advice and over 100 case studies of projects that share Architecture for Humanity’s mission of building a sustainable future.
This is a perfect indispensable handbook for anyone committed to building a more sustainable future. Packed with practical and ingenious design solutions, this book addresses the need for basic shelter, housing, education, health care, clean water, and renewable energy. One-on-one interviews and provocative case studies demonstrate how innovative design is reimagining community and uplifting lives.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s and Waterstone
Price: £16-£27
The Architecture Reference & Specification Book: Everything Architects Need to Know Everyday By Julia McMorrough
This book contains vital information that's essential to planning and executing architectural projects of all shapes and sizes. Most architectural standard references contain thousands of pages of details, overwhelmingly more than architects need to know on any given day. In contrast, The Architecture Reference & Specification Book compacts the data provided in standard architectural volumes in an easy-to-use reference covering the most indispensable-and most requested-types of architectural information.
Where to buy: Waterstones, Amazon, Blackwell’s, Book Depository, Abe Books, WH Smith and Wordery
Price: £13-£18
Architecture: Form, Space & Order (Fourth Edition) by Francis D.K. Ching
The book features the fundamental elements of space and form and is designed to encourage critical thought in order to promote a more evocative understanding of architecture. The book explains form and space in relation to light, view, openings and enclosures and explores the organization of space, and the elements and relationships of circulation, as well as proportion and scale. In addition, the text’s detailed illustrations demonstrate the concepts presented and reveal the relationships between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultures.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s, WH Smith and Book Depository
Price: £35-£38
Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide (Architecture Briefs) By David Bergman
Written for students and practitioners in the fields of architecture and interior design, this book provides a concise overview of all the techniques available for reducing the energy footprint of structures and spaces. With clear, simple language and a practical "can-do" approach, David Bergman covers everything from the profession's ethical responsibility, to design structures and spaces that sustain our natural resources, to specific considerations such as rainwater harvesting, graywater recycling, passive heating techniques, solar orientation, green roofs, wind energy, daylighting, indoor air quality, material evaluation and specification, and how to work with green building certification programs.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s, Wordery and Book Depository
Price: £12-£15
Siteless: 1001 Building Forms by Francois Blanciak
Siteless presents a new way to think about architecture. The book presents an open-ended collection of visual ideas for the architectural imagination to draw from. The forms - drawn freehand - are presented twelve to a page with no scale, order, or end to the series. After setting down 1001 forms in siteless conditions and embryonic stages, Blanciak takes one of the forms and performs a "scale test," showing what happens when one of these fantastic ideas is subjected to the actual constraints of a site in central Tokyo. The book ends by illustrating the potential of these shapes to morph into actual building proportions.
Where to buy: Amazon, Abe Books, Blackwell’s, World of Books, Book Depository and Wordery
Price: £10-£15
Modern Construction Handbook by Andrew Watts
This is one of the best construction manuals these days, covering construction systems in an extensive way. The book has good quality drawings and 3D sections that help you understand the details in a better way. Construction manuals tend to be very outdated, even if they are brand new, however this book includes a whole section on energy and alternative materials, along with a section called “Future”, which helps us resolve complex geometries, twisted facades, new glazing systems and more.
Where to buy: Amazon, Blackwell’s, Wordery, WHSmith and Book Depository
Price: £40-£43