Review: Basics Series

Basics Series -- cover.

Architecture-Page rating

8.5/10

Reviewed by: Suprio Bhattacharjee

The Review

You would take a look at these smart little volumes and immediately know that this effort at making basic educational books to help students and teachers alike could only have been made in 2007. All the volumes are less 'book' and more 'information manual' - in black and white, small sized and handy (155mmx220mm with roughly 70-80 pages per volume), with a compact layout and presentation no different from the instructions manual that came with your laptop or your desktop monitor. Alternatively, the volumes have the feel of information downloaded from web pages and printed through a standard inkjet printer. Youngsters will appreciate such a move, whereas for those involved in teaching such as myself, it is a refreshing approach towards the representation and assimilation of a lot of data and facts into a comprehensible body of knowledge.

The interesting use of visual queues, such as the little paperclip and light bulb notations used for notes and explanations, gesture towards a set of 'books' made in the information age for the information age. As such, since the primary target audience seems to be the student, these volumes attempt to negotiate the ready and easily accessible data available on the Internet with the comfort and tactility that a book provides.

The books in the series (sent for review) include

• Design and Living (Jan Krebs) ISBN 10: 3764376473
• Masonry Construction (Nils Kummer) ISBN 10: 3764376457
• Materials (Manfred Hegger, Hans Drexler, Martin Zeumer) ISBN 10: 3764376856
• Modelbuilding (Alexander Schilling) ISBN 10: 376437649X
• Roof Construction (Tanja Brotruck) ISBN 10: 376437683X
• Technical Drawing (Bert Bielefeld, Isabella Skiba) ISBN 10: 3764376449
  

Basics Series -- spread.

The visual queues hint towards the ease and informality of accessing information on the worldwide web, whereas the strict, no-nonsense and simplified layout and text hint at the textbooks of yore. The series covers a wide range of topics giving young architecture students the broad knowledge that they need, yet delving into specifics as and when necessary.

The volume titles include Masonry Construction, Design And Living, Modelbuilding, Technical Drawing, Materials and Roof Construction. Each volume is richly illustrated with photographs and diagrams. The examples covered range from the traditional to the most recent cutting-edge work. These 'books' are a must-have, not only for students and their teachers, but also for professionals wanting to brush up on their fundamentals.

Book Details

Title

Basics Series

Authors

Design and Living (Jan Krebs), Masonry Construction (Nils Kummer), Materials (Manfred Hegger, Hans Drexler, Martin Zeumer), Modelbuilding (Alexander Schilling), Roof Construction (Tanja Brotruck), Technical Drawing (Bert Bielefeld, Isabella Skiba)

Publisher

Birkhauser -- Publishers for Architecture

Year

2007

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

8.6 x 6.2 inches

Content pages

450+ (total of all 6 books)

Language

English

ISBN-10

Refer above