Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment

Architects expect to design buildings. But persuading clients to carry those designs into tangible form almost always involves writing as well as designing. Yet architects, and those who write about architecture, are often more comfortable with images than words. Presenting their visions in an articulate, accessible, and convincing written form can be difficult, and professionally hazardous. In Writing Architecture, Carter Wiseman provides an invaluable guide for students and practitioners on how to convey the importance of architecture to those who commission it, build it, and benefit from it. Drawing on a wide range of sources and citing examples from such authors as Frank Lloyd Wright, Ada Louise Huxtable, Vincent Scully, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and today’s leading designers, Wiseman analyzes basic principles of compositional structure to illustrate the most effective forms of architectural writing.

Free of professional and theoretical jargon, Writing Architecture considers the process, methods, and value of architecture writing based on Wiseman’s 30 years of experience in writing, editing, and teaching young architects how to write. It integrates historical references with current practice to help students and practitioners reach their professional goals.