Architectural Record Magazine April 2008

Architectural Record Magazine April 2008
212 pages | April 2008 | PDF | 56.5 Mb


Essential to the profession for more than 110 years, Architectural Record provides a compelling editorial mix of design ideas and trends, building science, business and professional strategies, exploration of key issues, new products and computer-aided practice.
I asked a friend of mine who is an architecture student to recommend a good magazine for me--a casual reader. He suggested Architectural Record (AR) immediately. I followed his lead and started buying AR from bookstores. After reading about one year, I got some opinions on the pros and cons of this magazine and would like to share them with prospective readers/subscribers. Please note that my evaluation is from a layperson's point of view. It might not work for professionals.
I think the goal of AR is to keep people updated about what's happening in the architectural communities around the world, to present the latest works, and to reveal some patterns or trends in today's design. Based on this mission, I think AR does a great job.
But if architecture is only your hobby, AR might be too much for you. At least we are not making a living with it and do not have to know everything about it. Chances are that only a small part of the content in each issue might interest you. Nevertheless, as what I mentioned, AR is a good and serious architecture journal. So the key question is not whether to read it or not, but how to read it wisely or read which issue(s).
Fortunately, several clues can provide us with good suggestions. Each issue of AR has a special section called "Building Type Study" which focuses on one type of building (such as library, museum, bridge, office building, etc.). You can choose the right issues by skimming through the this section. Moreover, each year AR has a special issue called "Record Houses" featuring about 10 residental projects carefully selected around the world. If you are into residential architecture, you don't want to miss them.
Unless you are a hardcore architecture fan and would like to know all about it, amateurs like me can choose the right issues to read and get the information I need. I think this is the right or smart strategy to take advantage of this quality magazine.

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