The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice,   ISBN:9780470088692

Customer Rating: 

"The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice" has 4 parts, including the profession, the firm, the project, as well as contracts and agreements.

Each part is further divided into chapters and subchapters, including:

Professional life, legal dimension of practice, and professional development

Developing a practice, running a practice, marketing and public relations, client relations, human resources, financial management, risk management, and firm operation

Project definition, project delivery, project management, quality management, and building codes and regulations

Types of agreements and AIA contract documents

It also has some useful appendixes: Resources for intern architects, allied professional organizations, state registration boards, schools of architecture, sample AIA contract documents, glossary and Index.

Most of Americans will open a book, read an average of 18 pages, and then put it away and let it sit on the shelf. I guess most architecture students will look through the table of content of this book, and look up the portion when they need it, and then put it away.

One suggestion I have for AIA is to publish an abridged edition and reduce the number of the pages to make it more usable, and focus on the issues that young architectural professionals have to deal with everyday or 80% of the time in real architectural practice.

"The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice" has 720 pages. Overall, it is a useful resource for architecture students.

Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of "Architectural Practice Simplified," "LEED GA Exam Guide," "Planting Design Illustrated," and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture

Customer Rating: 

This is required reading for many professional practice courses and is very useful beyond school. The content is a compilation of articles from experts and very well written with essential information readily available in each chapter. I would highly recommend getting the book at the beginning of any architectural studies as it is the best measure of the actual business of architectural design.