Fundamentals of Building Construction : Materials and Methods

Rating:
Summary: Surpassed expectations
Review: Being a student in Construction Management Edward Allen's book was assigned as our text book. The course entitled materials and methods is intended to teach future construction manajors about the wide variety of materials on the market today as well as tradional methods of constructing with these materials.
The book is chalked full of knowledge most of which would take a person hours, even days of research to uncover with other sources. It is very comprehensive. If you are active in the comercial building construction this book is a must for your refrence shelf. Residential construction owners/workers would gain considerable knowledge from the book it has plenty of useful information however I feel the book is leaning more towards heavy commercial.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and informative
Review: I had this as a textbook for an Architectural Technology class as an undergrad ARCH major. Detailed with illustrations and photos of actual ongoing construction projects, this book was very informative for showing details and connections necessary to the making of a building. While not necessarily written for the layman, it would definitely be useful to anyone wondering "how you put it together." There are moments when it can become dry, but as I said, I used it as a textbook, therefore a lot of my reading was REQUIRED. It's not mandatory that one read this cover to cover, but it would definitely be handy for examining processes and checking details of wall sections.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and informative
Review: I had this as a textbook for an Architectural Technology class as an undergrad ARCH major. Detailed with illustrations and photos of actual ongoing construction projects, this book was very informative for showing details and connections necessary to the making of a building. While not necessarily written for the layman, it would definitely be useful to anyone wondering "how you put it together." There are moments when it can become dry, but as I said, I used it as a textbook, therefore a lot of my reading was REQUIRED. It's not mandatory that one read this cover to cover, but it would definitely be handy for examining processes and checking details of wall sections.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, readable text with lots of hands on information
Review: Needs to have a section on Mechanical and Electrical to round out coverage of the CSI "Master Format".

Rating:
Summary: Great Book on Construction
Review: Simply put, this is one of the best technical textbooks I've ever read. It's basic stuff for someone just starting out in the discipline of architecture, but I'm keeping it as a reference for future professional use. It is clearly written and well illustrated and worth it's high price. I wish Allen would now write a book on Environmental Control Systems--everything in that field is too dry and too technical.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading--too expensive
Review: The author's readable style helps a lot. Also, interesting background material and history begin each chapter, and some industrial processes--glass-making, for example--are explained more fully. You won't regret reading this book, but you may be inclined to sell it when you're through.

Rating:
Summary: very helpfull
Review: This book is a must have for every body who is in the architecture field...it's worth every penny..

Rating:
Summary: NOT JUST FOR UNIVERSITY
Review: We read this bookas a textbook when I was in college. It is so helpfull ,it explains the electrical and mechanical systems in detail.Now we are using it at the office. It gives you so much detail and explains how is the connections between architecture and mechanics(plumping,air conditioning,etc) with photos and diagrams .It is an expensive book, I agree but has a lot of information.Thats why we steel using it at the office . I like the book because it explains so clearly the plumping and the air condition systems and how to connect and use them architecturally in the buildings.I recomend this book all architecture students.

Rating:
Summary: NOT JUST FOR UNIVERSITY
Review: We read this bookas a textbook when I was in college. It is so helpfull ,it explains the electrical and mechanical systems in detail.Now we are using it at the office. It gives you so much detail and explains how is the connections between architecture and mechanics(plumping,air conditioning,etc) with photos and diagrams .It is an expensive book, I agree but has a lot of information.Thats why we steel using it at the office . I like the book because it explains so clearly the plumping and the air condition systems and how to connect and use them architecturally in the buildings.I recomend this book all architecture students.