The Architect's Studio Companion: Rules of Thumb for Preliminary Design

The Architect's Studio Companion is the labor-saving design resource that architects, engineers, and builders have relied on for years. Now in its Fifth Edition, this industry standard maintains its reputation as a reliable tool for the preliminary selecting, configuring, and sizing of the structural, environmental, and life safety systems of a building. Bestselling authors Edward Allen and Joseph Iano reduce complex engineering and building code information to simple approximations that enable designers to lay out the fundamental systems of a building in a matter of minutes—without getting hung up on complicated technical concepts.

Complete with a convenient flex binding that lies flat for easy use, The Architect's Studio Companion, Fifth Edition gives you quick access to reliable rules of thumb that offer vital help for the preliminary design of: structural systems; heating, cooling, and electrical systems; building code height and area limits; exit stairways and other egress provisions; accessibility regulations; surface parking and structured parking garages; and daylight provisions. Additionally, this new edition gives you:

• The most current building codes in the United States and Canada
• New coverage of passive heating and cooling systems
• Guidelines for designing for natural ventilation
• Extensively updated structural design guidelines

Packed with useful information, The Architect's Studio Companion, Fifth Edition is the definitive resource that no architect should be without.

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The Ballard Library

Photograph of Ballard Library encapsulates the execution of preliminary design for structural systems, daylight illumination, natural ventilation cooling, and green roofing. (Architect, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; photograph, Joe Iano).