Architecture reading list
For applicants
We advise you to read the Architecture page thoroughly. For reading and preparation advice, the following sections should be particularly useful:
For offer holders
It is expected that Architecture students will have read the following by the start of their Cambridge course:
- Curtis, W. Modern Architecture Since 1900, Phaidon, 1982
- Gombrich, E. The Story of Art, Phaidon, 1966
- Kostoff, S. A History of Architecture, Settings and Rituals, OUP, 1995
- Summerson, J. The Classical Language of Architecture, BBC Pub. 1963
As further reading, these books may also be useful:
- Ackerman Palladio, Penguin Books
- Ackerman Michaelangelo, Penguin Books
- Bacherlard The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press, Boston, 1969
- Banham Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, Architectural Press, 1960
- Clifton-Taylor The Pattern of English Building, Faber, 1972
- Eliade The Sacred and The Profane, Harvest Books, 1959
- Ford The Details of Modern Architecture (2 vols), MIT, 1990, 1996
- Frampton Modern Architecture, A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, 1981
- Giedon, S. Space, Time and Architecture, Harvard University Presss, 1973
- Gombrich Art and Illusion, Phaidon, 1972
- Gordon Structures – or Why things Don’t Fall Down, Penguin, 1978
- Harries, K. The Meaning of Modern Art, A Philosophical Interpretation, Northwestern University Press, 1992
- Le Corbusier Towards a New Architecture, Architectural Press, 1946
- Rasmussen London, The Unique City, Jonathan Cape, 1937
- Rasmussen Experiencing Architecture, Chapman & Hall, 1959
- Ray, N. Cambridge Architecture, A Concise Guide, CUP, 1994
- Spector The Ethical Architect, Princeton Architectural Press, 2001
- Summerson Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture, Cresset Press 1949 (reprinted 1982)
- Twombley Frank Lloyd Wright – His Life and Architecture, Wiley, 1979
- Von Moos Le Corbusier – Elements of a Synthesis, MIT, 1979
- Weston Alvar Aalto, Phaidon, 1995
- Wittkower, R. Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, Academy
- Wolfe, T. From Bauhaus to our House, Farier Straus Giroux, 1981
- Wright, F.L. An Autobiograpahy, Faber & Faber, 1945
(Some of these books may be out of print but should be available in local libraries)
For more information, please consult the Department of Architecture website.
