How Architects Write

"Drawings are clearly the primary medium of communication by architects, but skill in using the written word is often essential to explain, justify, or persuade. How Architects Write illustrates different styles of writing for specific circumstances and, while there are books for architects on 'letter writing', 'report writing, ' or 'thesis writing', no other single volume encompasses such a variety of examples with so thoughtful a commentary." Sebastian Macmillan, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, UK "How Architects Write is both a practical yet surprisingly poetic compliment to the way architects think. The relation in the mind between thinking in words and thinking in images is both subtle and elusive. Picture a red rose the imagination can recall the color and the delicate complexity in the layering of petals, but only words can convey and give precision to the variable affect the rose has on the senses. And this is what an effective use of words can give to the creative process of the architect. It is the only critical means of defining and enhancing intention." Alan Balfour, School of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Tom Spector is a professor of architecture at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, and an editor of the academic journal Architecture Philosophy. Rebecca Damron is an associate professor of English and the director of the Writing Center at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.

1. How (and Why) Architects Write 2. Design Journals 3. History Term Papers 4. Project Descriptions 5. Writing for your Online Presence 6. Research Reports and Analyses 7. Business Documents 8. Statements of Design Philosophy, Essays, and Manifestos 9. Thesis and Dissertation Writing Index