Alejandro Aravena’s “half houses” in Iquique, Chile

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Fit: An Architect’s Manifesto
by Robert Geddes (Princeton, £13.95)

The Meaning of Home
by Edwin Heathcote (Frances Lincoln, £12.99)

Why We Build
by Rowan Moore (Picador, £20)

New Arcadians: Emerging UK Architects
by Lucy Bullivant (Merrell, £29.95)

When I was young I dreamed of becoming an architect. At home, I was thrilled to discover that the enchanted places that shaped my life—bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, attic—were no more than spaces enclosed by bricks and mortar, lath and plaster, joists and beams. I spent happy days taking up floor boards, pulling away skirtings, and climbing out onto the roof to find out how it all worked. Driving round in the back of the family car, I gave an anguished running commentary on the artistic sins of suburban London—picture windows, multicoloured paintwork, or tangles of cables and pipes—and I shouted with delight at the