Product Description

For over 70 years, Architectural Graphic Standards has been the bedrock design reference for generations of architects, builders and engineers. Now comes the most complete design tool yet--the completely updated and expanded Tenth Edition. You'll find a wealth of information, complete with 10,000 drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #507483 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1072 pages

Review
"But there is no question that libraries with any interest in architecture, building, remodeling, or similar areas must own a copy." (Libraries Unlimited, Spring 2002)

From the Publisher
System Requirements
Architectural Graphic Standards CD-ROM Version 3.0 will run under Windows95, Windows98 and Windows NT

Minimum System Configuration:
Processor: IBM Compatible PC 486DX/33
Memory: 24 MB
Disk Space: 1.5 MB
CD ROM : Single speed
Mouse: Yes
Screen Resolution: 800 x 600 x 256 colors
Recommended System Configuration
Processor: IBM Compatible Pentium PC 266 or faster
Memory: 32 MB
Disk Space: 1.5 MB
CD ROM: 20x or faster
Mouse: Yes
Screen Resolution: 1024 x 758 x 16 bit color
Netscape 4.0 (or later) or Internet Explorer 4.0 (or later) is required for use of Industry Links and Web features.

Copyright Information
*Masterspec is a registered trademark of The American Institute of Architects.
**MasterFormat is a joint publication of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) and is used with permission.
***Architects' First Source for Products is a comprehensive directory of commercial building product manufacturers-both in print and on the Internet.
Architectural Graphic Standards CD-ROM Version 3.0 developed by Jordani Multimedia and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Ramsey/Sleeper Architectural Graphic Standards, Tenth Edition. Prepared by The American Institute of Architects. Edited by John Ray Hoke, Jr., FAIA.
MicroStation is a registered trademark of Bentley Systems, Inc.
AutoCAD® 2000 is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

From the Back Cover
For over 60 years, Architectural Graphic Standards has been the bedrock design reference for generations of architects, builders and engineers. Now comes the most complete design tool yet--the completely updated and expanded book/CD-ROM Tenth Edition. You'll find a wealth of information, complete with 10,000 drawings.

Customer Reviews

Don't Be Fooled by the Enclosed CD-Rom
While the Architectural Graphics Standards book is as good a reference as always, the enticement of a CD-Rom is a false promise. You have to purchase an unlock code to access the Rom. Said access code is available for a fee of $425.00. That wasn't disclosed before I purchased it.

The Big Red Book
It has 154 more pages than the 9th edition, so it has new information, but as you page through it you will find it seems almost identical. They need to keep most of the old data, so I wouldn't take off points for that. You can see the publisher's review for all of the new features: I noticed that the Historic Preservation chapter has been shortened a bit.

Potentially, the biggest addition is the CD-ROM, which has CAD files ready to use, and includes pretty much everything from the book. You might think that you are getting all that for the cost of the book, but...no. The "demo" CD comes in a sleeve inside the back cover, and is noted: "Full functionality, Limited data." You can access a drawing of a bar joist, for example. It exports a DWG or DXF file with layers based on line weights. The interface is pretty clear; you don't have to read any instructions to start using it. The CD actually has all of the data, but you have to pay another $425 online to "unlock" it. That could be a bargain, but I suspect that most firms will feel that their own detail library is more applicable to the work they do. Still, $425 represents less than a day's worth of billable hours.

Every architect knows the value of this book, and most every architecture firm (in the U.S. anyway) will want at least one copy just to stay current, and because the old one is getting worn out. You might as well get it now, and decide on the CD-ROM later. I'd love to have a special edition set with each page ever published in all of the AGS books, or even just the last 3 or 4. I'd give that 6 stars.

Lots of Hay, but Very Few Needles
Once again the editors of Graphic Standards have promised a useful reference for architects, and have fallen way short. In architecture school (1972), I purchased the sixth edition and found it better than most reference books for students of architecture. However, even then I noticed many sections of questionable value. Pages and pages of dimensions of designer furniture and kitchenware fall into this category.

Recently, after practicing architecture for 20 years, I was suckered back by publisher Wiley's siren song of how the new tenth edition is new, informative, refreshing, up to date, etc. Fooled again. Sure, the Graphic Standards is a fair source of information, but I question the editors' judgement as to what is worth publishing between the wonderfully bound front and rear cover. For example, look up "R-value" in the index and you are directed to 55 words on page 486 how R-value relates to windows and that it's the inverse of U-values. Nothing on the R-value of all exterior skin construction materials or how the R-value relates poorly to thermal massing materials. These things should be very important to architects and are disappointingly absent from the Graphic Standards. However, if you ever need to know what a Zamboni looks like, or need to know the dimensions required for a rodeo barrel race, this is your book! Want an entire page showing ten pieces of gymnastics equipment (pg. 777) or how to draw an ellipse using pen or pencil (pg.999)? Seek no more. Twenty four pages of kitchen utensils and garden tools are still there. This is the best place to find loads of pages of barely useful information of dubious worth.

Once the editors of Graphic Standards discover that a meaningful discussion on R-values in building materials deserves more space than the dimensions of a belt sander, then I might reconsider purchasing a later edition, but I won't hold my breath. Oh, one more thing, for you architects out there working on a Macintosh platform, the accompanying CD-ROM is useless.