Well, it's both, really, though weighted toward the project-building, I would say; there's a lot of explanation of different methods of building, and then some suggested projects to illustrate what has just been discussed (it's ~600 pages).
There aren't so very many things like plans or schematic drawings--the illustrations are mostly photographs.

I'll try to think of something your guy might like better, and will pop back in here if something occurs to me.

mm