Designers & Books Blog

 

856 blog entries
By Margie Ruddick April 14, 2014

I must have read this book several hundred times as a child—a pure escape from, and then restoration to, urban life; a mix of love and loss and landscape.

By Zoë Ryan September 26, 2013

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in new forms of mapping and data visualization.

Daily Features
By Witold Rybczynski July 13, 2023

What’s on our summer reading list? As design book devotees, we’re turning to The Story of Architecture by Witold Rybczynski.

Recently, Designers & Books had a chance to talk with the author about how he conceived his expansive and engaging history of buildings from the Stone Age to the present day—his 22nd book— and what readers can take away from it. More...

Interviews
By Witold Rybczynski September 30, 2014

British architect-educator-author Ian Ritchie talks to U.S. architect-educator-author Witold Rybczynski about Ritchie’s career, including the making of his latest book, a two-volume opus; the favorite project he didn’t get to build; and why he writes poetry. More...

Notable Design Books: Reviews
By Witold Rybczynski July 22, 2014

Critic Witold Rybczynski reviews vanguard British architect Ian Ritchie’s newest book—a combination of musings, writings, and photographs of the buildings that have marked Ritchie’s varied career. More...

By Witold Rybczynski December 19, 2013

Pre-dates the descent into obfuscatory jargon that bedevils most theoretical texts. Still a stimulating read, even if the movement it helped to launch—postmodernism—fizzled out.

Archives & Libraries
By Witold Rybczynski November 14, 2013

Kahn’s original drawings models, and correspondence offer a “view from the drafting room” of the architect’s work, writes Witold Rybczynski. More...

By Witold Rybczynski October 1, 2013

If you never took Scully’s course at Yale, or had the privilege of hearing him lecture, this book is a good substitute.

By Richard Sachs November 25, 2013

More than any other maker whose works I’ve become aware of, I always come back to a fantasy that includes making my bicycles with the skill and humility with which Jimmy D’Aquisto made his guitars.