The following constitute an introductory “reading” list for beginning your professional studies in architecture. Familiarizing yourself with its contents prior to entering a professional program is one good way to enhance your general preparedness for the course of study.

BOOKS

  • Between the World and Me (2015), Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Building Practice (2023), Molly Hunker and Kyle Miller
  • Collage City (1978), Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter
  • Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), Robert Venturi
  • Dark Space: Architecture, Representation, Black Identity (2016), Mario Gooden
  • Delirious New York (1979), Rem Koolhaas
  • In Praise of Shadows (1933), Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
  • Invisible Cities (1972), Italo Calvino
  • Race and Modern Architecture (2020), Irene Cheng, Charles Davis, and Mabel Wilson
  • Species of Spaces (1974), Georges Perec
  • The Architecture of a Well-Tempered Environment (1969), Reyner Banham
  • Toward an Architecture (1923), Le Corbusier

journals & magazines

  • 2G
  • a+u Architecture and Urbanism
  • Architect Magazine
  • Architectural Record
  • El Croquis
  • Log
  • New York Review of Architecture
  • PIN-UP
  • Wallpaper*

websites

films

  • Abstract: The Art of Design, a Netflix series

  • Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott

  • Brazil (1985), Terry Gilliam

  • Columbus (2017), Kogonada

  • Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982), Godfrey Reggio

  • Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang

  • Mon Oncle (1957), Jacques Tati

  • Parasite (2019), Bong Joon-ho

  • Playtime (1967), Jacques Tati

  • Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock

  • The Belly of an Architect (1987), Peter Greenaway

  • The Fountainhead (1949), King Vidor

ARCHITECTS TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH

Frank Lloyd Wright

Rem Koolhaas (OMA)

Julia Morgan Tadao Ando
Le Corbusier Herzog & de Meuron
Louis Kahn Eileen Gray
Richard Meier TEN Arquitectos
Peter Eisenman MVRDV
Maya Lin SHoP Architects
Zaha Hadid Steven Holl
Studio Daniel Libeskind Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Lebbeus Woods