by Robert Campbell, FAIA

The Almanac of Architecture & Design is an annual compendium of architecture and design facts, award winners, projects, firms, rankings, schools, and other information. Architecture critic Robert Campbell wrote the third edition's foreword, in which he refers to many of the resources available in the book. — Editor

I'm a lifelong fact-freak, a hopelessly obsessed lover of trivia games and crossword puzzles. So I'm utterly fascinated each year when this Almanac comes out. It's packed with the kind of info you can use to stump your friends.

Which two 19-century winners of the Royal Gold Medal had the same name? (Smirke and Smirke, of course. A supercilious pair!) What percentage of students in Master of Architecture programs are women? (Not enough, but getting there.) What state has the most architects per capita? (Hawaii by a mile, but they've still got less than one for every thousand residents. Surely the world needs more of us architects than that.)

But the Almanac is much more than a gold mine of facts. It's quickly becoming indispensable for any public library, any design firm, and any school of architecture, landscape architecture, or interior design. And certainly for any architectural journalist. It's solid, reliable, and remarkably complete.

This article is excerpted from Almanac of Architecture & Design, Third Edition, with permission of the publisher, Greenway Consulting   >>>

Robertson Branch Library, Los Angeles, by Steven Ehrlich Architects, a 2001 Library Building Award recipient. Many awards are documented in the new Almanac of Architecture & Design. Photo: Tom Bonner A graphical interpretation of statistical data from the Almanac of Architecture & Design. Fifty-six percent of all U.S. architecture firms are located in only ten states. Image: Greenway Consulting   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.