| Search the RIBA Library Catalogue for articles by Colin Davies Go to the Colin Davies page on Amazon | | Books about architecture As well as hundreds of articles in architectural magazines, Colin Davies has written nine books about various aspects of architecture. His most recent book, 'A New History of Modern Architecture' was published by Laurence King in August 2017. The paperback edition is now available. This is what the critics said: Seemingly without prejudice, Colin Davies corrals in an extraordinary range of buildings and ideas, applying an unrelenting intelligence to every part. The book is sure to soon be at the elbow of history and theory teachers in every school of architecture. It is an extraordinary achievement. Fred Scott in Architecture Today. ...accessible, open-minded and informative. Rowan Moore in The Observer 'Thinking about Architecture' (Laurence King, 2011), is an introduction to architectural theory for students and interested lay-persons. On goodreads.com, John writes: I have been wanting to read a good book about architecture and architectural theory for a while, but never found the right book – you can see my previous attempts here in my Goodreads collection. Finally, THIS is the book I was looking for. It's written for university students, contains a good amount of theory, intellectual history, and critique, and it's written brilliantly (seriously, Colin Davies writes the 'textbook' genre fabulously well). It's full of colour photos, and contains just enough of the author's own opinions to make it seem human. He spends a good deal of time contrasting what contemporary theory is supposed to suggest vs what the built environment actually looks like, which makes it seem nicely grounded. 'Key Houses of the Twentieth Century' (Laurence King, 2007) features more than 100 of the most influential houses of the 20th century. It includes classic works by such architects as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Tadao Ando, Rem Koolhaas and Glen Murcutt. Accurate scale plans, sections and elevations are shown for each house. 'The Prefabricated Home' (Reaktion, 2005) was one of the last books to be reviewed by the late distinguished critic Martin Pawley. He said: Let's not beat about the bush. Let's get straight to the point. There has been an awful lot of interest in prefabrication in recent years, but not much has as yet come out of it except this book, which is a gem. The Prefabricated Home should be read especially by people who have plunged into the pursuit of the £60,000 house, if only because a lot of history is gathered together here that cannot be found in one source anywhere else. History that is as bright and fresh as a minted coin, and as relevant as the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister itself. 'High Tech Architecture' (Thames and Hudson, 1988) is the standard work on this fascinating episode in the story of twentieth century architecture. The book features the work of Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael Hopkins and others. It includes many beautiful photographs as well as plans of most of the buildings.
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