Here’s 10 great affordable gift ideas for architecture lovers. These gift ideas are great for any occasion: birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or even just an ordinary day to show someone how much you appreciate them. And best of all, they are really affordable – all of them are less than $100!
Ready? Let’s get started with this affordable design gift guide for architecture lovers!
Architecture Tour Maps
For any travel-loving design fans on your list, these unique city architecture maps are a great gift idea. Each map highlights the architectural gems in major cities throughout the world, such as London, Paris, Moscow, New York City, Boston, and Washington, DC. Designed as both a reference guide and travel companion, the maps include an introduction to the architecture of the era, along with photographs and details for each building, including the address, build date, and the architects or practice responsible. These are sure to spark someone’s appetite for travel and architecture. From Blue Crow Media.
Inspiration And Process In Architecture Moleskine Notebooks
Architects love Moleskine – but these books put a new twist on the old favorite. The collection of Inspiration And Process In Architecture is a series of illustrated monographs dedicated to key figures in contemporary architecture. The collection features Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, Michael Graves, Studio Mumbai, Marcio Kogan, Giancarlo De Carlo, Bolles+Wilson, Alberto Kalach, Cino Zucchi, and Dominique Perrault, among others. whose stories are told through notes and drawings. Each volume reveals previously unseen work and preliminary processes from these famous architects around the world.
With over 100 full-color images reproduced in a clothbound notebook with rounded corners, ribbon bookmark, elastic closure and lie-flat stitching, each book offers a different and never before seen perspective on the multifaceted profession of architecture. By Moleskine.
Field Notes Notebooks
These unique pocket-sized notebooks are great. So much thought goes in the various limited edition designs. We recommend the annual subscription which gives you quarterly package of notebooks with unique surprise themes.
Architectural Detailing Books
If you’re one of those people who love details, chances are you’ve asked yourself “how did they do that?!?!” one too many times. Finding details that explain various architectural conditions is rather difficult in the architectural world. As architects, we’re frequently on the lookout for good books that explain how things are detailed. Here are a few of our favorites:
Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture 2 by David Phillips and Megumi Yamashita
Detail in Contemporary Timber Architecture by Virginia McLeod
Detail in Contemporary Concrete Architecture by David Phillips and Megumi Yamashita
Detail in Contemporary Glass Architecture by Virginia McLeod
Encyclopedia of Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture
PocketMonkey Multi-Tool
PocketMonkey® multi-tool is a versatile tool that fits in your wallet and helps concur life’s everyday tasks. With 12 functions different functions, it’s always helpful when you need something done. Here are some of its functions: bottle opener, screwdriver, phone kickstand, bottle opener, letter opener, ruler, headphone wrap, straightedge, and even an orange peeler. It’s made in the USA from heat-treated stainless steel so this multi-tool won’t bend, break, or rust. And it’s even TSA-compliant, so you can take it with you whenever you fly. From Pocket Monkey.
Obsessive Chef Bamboo Cutting Boards
Finally, a cutting board that is as exacting in its standards as your special architects and designer loved ones are. A multitude of guide lines at different grid sizes and angles ensure your cuts are precise. Lines are burnished in rather than printed, so they won’t wear off. This board features guides for medium dice, small dice, brunoise, fine brunoise, batonnet, allumette, julienne, and fine julienne. Made of strong long-wearing, easy to clean, and environmentally sustainable bamboo. Its 9-inch by 12-inch size is easy to handle. (The only downside is that the angles are for right-handed users.) By Fred & Friends via Amazon.
Architecture Theme Card Games
Take architecture enthusiasts on a tour of legendary landmarks across the world with architectural card games: ICONIC Architecture Card Game and IDENTIC Memory game, both invite you to discover famous projects of contemporary architecture around the world by leading figures in architecture.
ICONIC Architecture card game: A card game of dividing buildings into 7 groups: shows & events, house, tower, culture, religion, collective housing, museum. The buildings were selected for their diversity, their architectural, technical and cultural interest as well as their propensity to be easily identifiable.
IDENTIC Memory Game is a game of memorization and observation, flipping cards over two at a time to reveal matches. The player with the largest number of pairs wins the game. This is a great way to learn and memorize some of the greatest architectural works of the world. By Cinqpoints.
Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty
A children’s book of about Iggy Peck, a creative, independent boy who is not afraid to express himself. He has one passion: building, and likes to build fantastic structures out of common materials. His parents are proud of his fabulous creations, though they’re sometimes surprised by his materials—who could forget the tower he built of dirty diapers? Unfortunately, Iggy doesn’t get the credit he deserves – the adults in his life, especially his second-grade teacher, criticize his buildings. When she declares her dislike of architecture, Iggy faces a challenge. He loves building too much to give it up! The young architect continues to build and eventually convinces his teacher that constructing brilliant structures is something worthwhile and noble.
Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
Brunelleschi’s Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes (among some of the most renowned machines of the Renaissance) to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers’ platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction–all the while defying those who said the dome would surely collapse and his own personal obstacles that at times threatened to overwhelm him. This drama was played out amid plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence
The book does an absolutely amazing job of telling the historical events leading up to and during the building of the dome like a story. With the pictures and the descriptions, you’re really able to better appreciate the architectural and engineering genius that Brunelleschi was!
