Christopher Alexander
A great book detailing some widely applicable ways to design building, and why. Taken from studies conducted by Alexander and his architectural students and colleagues from The Center for Environmental Studies at the University of California, Berkely.
The book provides patterns on all levels and topics, from how to layout and design whole regions to how to finally best build the structure you have envisioned and built.
A great read – I really can’t sum it up here at all. But I do recommend it highly, especially if you ever want to look into designing and building something yourself.