'It is twelve years since I recommended to Charlotte Baden-Powell that the future editions of her little Architect's Pocket Book would be safe in the hands of former FCBS partner Jonathan Hetreed. The succession has worked very well and the Pocket Book continues to be a best seller. Its appeal is comprehensive accessibility: it covers all those pragmatic necessities.
As we all know it's very difficult to reduce everything to the essence of what is important, - to eliminate the superfluous, condense and minimise. So scale is important in many respects - the physical scale of the book, and the scale of the architecture covered- It is derived from the world of smaller scale architecture though most of its contents are useful across the board. The latest version has an updated section on sustainability and climate change, and a rewritten section on engineering. Some sections have been weeded out to ensure that only the essentials are retained. But there is also a whimsical quality that Charlotte really valued which acts as a counterpoint to the editorial rigour. So it is great to see that the platonic solids are still there, and the coastal weather stations, and Charlotte's husband's glass of wine is still on the illustration of the "workstation"
In an era where Google has a screen-based answer to everything, it is slightly incongruous to find the Pocket Book adjacent to the multi-screened architectural workstations that now inhabit our offices. Despite rising sales of the e-book version the paper copy continues to be a best seller for architects, and particularly students. It provides a simple quick reference for virtually everything you need to know on a day by day basis. It belongs in every student's studio-survival pack, with which they can begin to navigate the quantitative labyrinth of being an architect.'
Peter Clegg, Senior Partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
