Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

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Nonfiction, Architecture

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318 books


Palladio	Ackerman, James S.	Comments:
The Architecture of Michelangelo	Ackerman, James S.
Eileen Gray	Adam, Peter
What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays	Agamben, Giorgio
On the Art of Building in Ten Books	Alberti, Leon Battista
Carlo Scarpa: Architecture in Details	Albertini, Bianca et al.
A Pattern Language	Alexander, Christopher et al.
Notes on the Synthesis of Form	Alexander, Christopher
Italy: The New Domestic Landscape	Ambasz, Emilio
Apartments for the Affluent	Alpern, Andrew
Pamphlet Architecture 27, Tooling	Aranda, Benjamin et al.
Sigurd Lewerentz, 1888-1975	Architectural Association,
The Sense of Unity	Ardalan, Nader et al.
Walter Gropius e la Bauhaus	Argan, Carlo Giulio
Super Constellation	Asendorf, Christoph
Informal	Balmond, Cecil
Theory and Design in the First Machine Age	Banham, Reyner
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies	Banham, Reyner
A Critic Writes: Essays by Reyner Banham	Banham, Reyner
The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment	Banham, Reyner
Megastructure	Banham, Reyner
Barragán Guide	Barragán, Luis
Italian Splendor	Basehart, Jack et al.
Horizons	Bel Geddes, Norman
For an Architecture of Reality	Benedikt, Michael
History of Modern Architecture (Storia dell’Architettura Moderna )	Benevolo, Leonardo
The Arcades Project	Benjamin, Walter
Robert Maillart	Bill, Max
Le Corbusier: Oeuvre Complète (Complete Works)	Boesiger, Willy
Friedrich Kiesler: Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer, 1890–1965	Bogner, Dieter
Journeys: How Travelling Fruit, Ideas and Buildings Rearrange our Environment	Borasi, Giovanna
Opus Architecturum	Borromini, Francesco et al.
How Buildings Learn	Brand, Stewart
La Prima Architettura Barocca (The First Baroque Architecture)	Brandi, Cesare
Watermark	Brodsky, Joseph
Architectural Ornament	Brolin, Brent C.
Eliot Noyes	Bruce, Gordon
Albert Kahn: Architect of Ford	Bucci, Federico
The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens	Butler, A.S.G.
Architetture nel Segno dei Maestri	Buttafava, Claudio et al.
Architecture of Truth	Cali, François et al.
By Design	Caplan, Ralph
The Power Broker	Caro, Robert
Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini’s Visit to France	Chantelou, Paul Fréart de
Emotionally Durable Design	Chapman, Jonathan
Community and Privacy	Chermayeff, Serge et al.
Architecture: Form, Space, and Order	Ching, Francis D. K.
Re-cycle	Ciorra, Pippo
A Hut of One’s Own	Cline, Ann
Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture	Collins, Peter
Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media	Colomina, Beatriz
Essays in Architectural Criticism	Colquhoun, Alan
Modern Architecture	Colquhoun, Alan
Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture	Conrads, Ulrich
Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design	Coulton, J. J.
Carlo Scarpa: Theory, Design, Projects	Crippa, Maria Antonietta
Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Works	Dal Co, Francesco et al.
The Architecture of Happiness	De Botton, Alain
Trutg dil Flem: Seven Bridges by Jürg Conzett	Dechau, Wilfried et al.
La Villa Kérylos	Vian des Rives, Régis
Recueil et Parallèle des Edifices de tout genre Anciens et Modernes	Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis
House X	Eisenman, Peter
The Projective Cast	Evans, Robin
Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays	Evans, Robin
Zone 1/2	Feher, Michael et al.
Disappearing Architecture	Flachbart, Georg
A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method	Fletcher, Banister
A History of Architecture	Fletcher, Banister
The Details of Modern Architecture	Ford, Edward R.
Studies in Tectonic Culture	Frampton, Kenneth
Modern Architecture, 1851-1945	Frampton, Kenneth et al.
Shack Chic	Fraser, Craig
Design Activism	Fuad-Luke, Alastair
Critical Path	Fuller, R. Buckminster
Nine Chains to the Moon	Fuller, R. Buckminster
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth	Fuller, R. Buckminster
Walter Pichler: Zwei Troge, Wasserrinnen	Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman,
Archizoom Associati, 1966–1974	Gargiani, Roberto
Mastering Tradition: The Residential Architecture of John Russell Pope	Garrison, James B.
An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles	Gebhard, David et al.
Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles	Gee, Stephen
Churches in Rock	Gerster, Georg
The Building Erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition 1851	Gibbs-Smith, Charles H.
Mechanization Takes Command	Giedion, Sigfried
Space, Time and Architecture	Giedion, Sigfried
Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright	Gill, Brendan
Big Jim	Girouard, Mark
Why Architecture Matters	Goldberger, Paul
Arts & Architecture: The Entenza Years	Goldstein, Barbara
740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building	Gross, Michael
Neoclassicism in the North	Groth, Håkan
Eléments et théorie de l’architecture	Guadet, Julien
Mask of Medusa	Hejduk, John
Education of an Architect	Hejduk, John
Thermal Delight in Architecture	Heschong, Lisa
In the Nature of Materials	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
Modern Architecture: Romanticism and Reintegration	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
The International Style	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell et al.
The Invention of Tradition	Hobsbawm, E. J. et al.
Libraries	Höfer, Candida et al.
Pamphlet Architecture 7	Holl, Steven
Against Architecture	Hollier, Denis
English Country Houses	Hussey, Christopher
Frank Lloyd Wright	Huxtable, Ada Louise
Lina Bo Bardi	Bardi, Lina Bo
Indian Summer	Irving, Robert Grant
Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish	Isaacson, Philip M.
The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics	Jackson, John Brinckerhoff
Hans Richter, New Living	Janser, Andres et al.
The Language of Post-Modern Architecture	Jencks, Charles
Mies van der Rohe	Johnson, Philip
American Buildings and Their Architects, vol. 5: The Impact of European Modernism in the Mid-twentieth Century	Jordy, William H.
Donald Judd: Raume Spaces	Judd, Donald et al.
Light is the Theme	Kahn, Louis I.
Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students	Kahn, Louis I.
What Is Modern Design?	Kaufmann Jr., Edgar
Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm (Vision + Value Series)	Kepes, Gyorgy
American Architecture	Kimball, Fiske
Brunelleschi’s Dome	King, Ross
Perfect Acts of Architecture	Kipnis, Jeffrey
Charles and Ray Eames	Kirkham, Pat
Saarinen’s Quest: A Memoir	Knight, Richard et al.
Delirious New York	Koolhaas, Rem
Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping	Koolhaas, Rem et al.
S, M, L, XL	Koolhaas, Rem et al.
Fundamentals	Koolhaas, Rem
Town and Revolution	Kopp, Anatole
A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals	Kostof, Spiro
The Architecture of Community	Krier, Léon
Architecture: Choice or Fate	Krier, Léon
Joe Colombo	Kries, Mateo et al.
Building with Nantucket in Mind	Lang, J. Christopher et al.
Too Much Is Never Enough	Lapidus, Morris
The Devil in the White City	Larson, Erik
Aircraft	Le Corbusier,
Le Modulor	Le Corbusier,
Towards a New Architecture (Vers une Architecture)	Le Corbusier,
When the Cathedrals Were White	Le Corbusier,
Essential Le Corbusier: L’Esprit Nouveau Articles	Le Corbusier,
Creation is a Patient Search (L’atelier de la recherche patiente)	Le Corbusier,
Ronchamp	Le Corbusier,
L’Architecture	Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas
Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark	Lee, Pamela M.
The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein	Leitner, Bernhard
Planned Assaults	Lerup, Lars et al.
Edifices de Rome Moderne	Letarouilly, Paul Marie
Between Zero and Infinity	Libeskind, Daniel
Your Private Sky: R. Buckminster Fuller	Lichtenstein, Claude et al.
Trotzdem, 1900–1930	Loos, Adolf
Unbuilding	Macaulay, David
Pyramid	Macaulay, David
Quotidiano sostenibile	Manzini, Ezio et al.
Morphosis - Combinatory Urbanism: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form	Mayne, Thom
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things	McDonough, William et al.
Design with Nature	McHarg, Ian
Architettura addio	Mendini, Alessandro
Louis Kahn: On the Thoughtful Making of Spaces	Merrill, Michael
The Presence of Mies	Mertins, Detlef
Classic Style	Miller, Judith
Architecture and Politics in Germany: 1918-1945	Lane, Barbara Miller
Miralles/Pinos 1983–1990	Miralles, Enric
Great Houses of England and Wales	Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh et al.
The City Observed: Los Angeles	Moore, Charles
You Have to Pay for the Public Life	Moore, Charles et al.
On Weathering	Mostafavi, Mohsen et al.
In the Life of Cities	Mostafavi, Mohsen
Roots of Contemporary American Architecture	Mumford, Lewis
From the Ground Up	Mumford, Lewis
Thinking Drawing/Working Drawing	Murcutt, Glenn
File Under Architecture	Muschamp, Herbert
The English House	Muthesius, Hermann
Outrage	Nairn, Ian
Nairn’s London	Nairn, Ian
Nairn’s Paris	Nairn, Ian
The Bauhaus Reassessed: Sources and Design Theory	Naylor, Gillian
Frei Otto: Complete Works	Nerdinger, Winfried
The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art	Neumeyer, Fritz
The Curves of Time	Niemeyer, Oscar
Alexander Girard	Oldham, Todd et al.
Design with Climate	Olgyay, Victor
Traditional Islamic Craft in Moroccan Architecture	Paccard, André
The Four Books on Architecture	Palladio, Andrea
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses	Pallasmaa, Juhani
Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism	Panofsky, Erwin
Perspecta 12, The Yale Architectural Journal	Papademetriou, Peter
The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism	Pawley, Martin et al.
Minimum	Pawson, John
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals	Payne, Christopher et al.
What If...?: The Architecture and Design of David Rockwell	Pearlman, Chee et al.
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future	Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa et al.
Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, 2nd edition (Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture)	Perrault, Claude
To Engineer Is Human	Petroski, Henry
An Outline of European Architecture	Pevsner, Nikolaus
Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius	Pevsner, Nikolaus
Frank Lloyd Wright: Collected Writings, Vol. 1, 1894–1930	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
The Prisons (Le Carceri)	Piranesi, Giovanni Battista
Cosmos of Light	Plummer, Henry
Achille Castiglioni	Polano, Sergio
A Place of My Own	Pollan, Michael
In Praise of Architecture	Ponti, Gio
The Rome of Borromini	Portoghesi, Paolo
Roma Barocca	Portoghesi, Paolo
David Adler: The Architect and His Work	Pratt, Richard
Cedric Price (Works II) [The Square Book]	Price, Cedric
Re: CP	Price, Cedric et al.
Experiencing Architecture	Rasmussen, Steen Eiler
Digital Water Pavilion	Ratti, Carlo
An Engineer Imagines	Rice, Peter
The Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings	Richards, J. M.
Esperienza dell’Architettura	Rogers, Ernesto
Isambard Kingdom Brunel	Rolt, L.T.C.
The Architecture of the City	Rossi, Aldo
Autobiografia scientifica (A Scientific Autobiography)	Rossi, Aldo
A Monograph of the Works of McKim Mead & White 1879–1915	Roth, Leland M.
As I Was Saying	Rowe, Colin
The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays	Rowe, Colin
Architecture Without Architects	Rudofsky, Bernard
Behind the Picture Window	Rudofsky, Bernard
The Prodigious Builders	Rudofsky, Bernard
The Stones of Venice	Ruskin, John
The Most Beautiful House in the World	Rybczynski, Witold
Home: A Short History of an Idea	Rybczynski, Witold
The Necessity of Artifice	Rykwert, Joseph
On Adam’s House in Paradise	Rykwert, Joseph
Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi: Best of Friends	Sadao, Shoji et al.
Carlo Scarpa	Saito, Yutaka
The Country Houses of David Adler	Salny, Stephen
The Gardens of Russell Page	Schinz, Marina et al.
Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture	Schorske, Carl E.
Chicago’s Famous Buildings	Schulze, Franz et al.
Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography	Schulze, Franz
Philip Johnson: Life and Work	Schulze, Franz
Mies van de Rohe: Critical Essays	Schulze, Franz
Ant Farm	Scott, Felicity
The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste	Scott, Geoffrey
American Architecture and Urbanism	Scully, Vincent
Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade	Scully, Vincent
Modern Architecture and Other Essays	Scully, Vincent
The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods	Scully, Vincent
The Shingle Style and the Stick Style	Scully, Vincent
The Shingle Style Today	Scully, Vincent
Frank Lloyd Wright	Secrest, Meryle
SANAA: Spiel der Gegensätze/The Play of Opposites	Sejima, Kazuyo et al.
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, Sanaa Works 1995–2003	Sejima, Kazuyo et al.
Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics	Semper, Gottfried
Miami Modern Metropolis	Shulman, Allan T.
La Nueva Villa Getty	Silvetti, Jorge et al.
Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction	Smith, Ryan E.
Uppercase 3	Smithson, Alison Margaret et al.
Without Rhetoric	Smithson, Alison Margaret et al.
The Swedish House	Snitt, Ingalill et al.
Snøhetta Works	Snøhetta,
Conditions	Snøhetta,
Differences	Solà-Morales Rubió, Ingnasi
Twenty Minutes in Manhattan	Sorkin, Michael
New York 1930	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
Paradise Planned	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in Europe	Stimpson, Miriam F.
Design Like You Give a Damn	Sinclair, Cameron et al.
The Edifice Complex	Sudjic, Deyan
New Directions in British Architecture	Sudjic, Deyan
Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings	Sullivan, Louis H.
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 1	Sulzer, Peter
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 2	Sulzer, Peter
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 3	Sulzer, Peter
Georgian London	Summerson, John
The Life and Work of John Nash, Architect	Summerson, John
Architecture in Britain 1530–1830	Summerson, John
Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture	Summerson, John
The Classical Language of Architecture	Summerson, John
Wooden Houses	Suzuki, Makoto et al.
Architecture and Utopia	Tafuri, Manfredo
The Sphere and the Labyrinth (La sfera e il labirinto)	Tafuri, Manfredo
Theories and History of Architecture (Teoria e storia dell’architettura)	Tafuri, Manfredo
Interpreting the Renaissance (Ricerca dell’Rinascimento)	Tafuri, Manfredo
Geoffrey Bawa	Taylor, Brian Brace
Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object	Thackara, John
Sir John Soane: The Architect as Collector, 1753-1837	Thornton, Peter et al.
Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity	Trachtenberg, Marvin et al.
Space Calculated in Seconds	Treib, Marc
Venezia Minore	Trincanato, Egle R.
Tropical Modernism	Trulove, James Grayson
The Manhattan Transcripts	Tschumi, Bernard
Dialogues	Valéry, Paul
Architectonic Space	van der Laan, Hans
At Home by the Sea	Vanden Brink, Brian et al.
The Charlottesville Tapes	Various authors; transcript of conference at the University of Virginia, November 12–13, 1982,
La Maison de Verre: Pierre Chareau’s Modernist Masterwork	Vellay, Dominique
Learning from Las Vegas	Venturi, Robert et al.
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture	Venturi, Robert
Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation	Vesely, Dalibor
Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture	Vitruvius Pollio, et al.
Imperial Delhi	Volwahsen, Andreas
Animal Architecture	von Frisch, Karl
Gerrit Rietveld	van Zijl, Ida
The Turning Point of Building	Wachsmann, Konrad
Le Corbusier: A Life	Weber, Nicholas Fox
Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006–2009	Weiwei, Ai
Utzon	Weston, Richard
AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.)	White, Norval et al.
White Walls, Designer Dresses	Wigley, Mark
Constant’s New Babylon	Wigley, Mark
Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939	Wilk, Christopher
Bauhaus: Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, Chicago	Wingler, Hans
From Bauhaus to Our House	Wolfe, Tom
Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography	Wright, Frank Lloyd
The Future of Architecture	Wright, Frank Lloyd
The Natural House	Wright, Frank Lloyd
The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
Letters to Clients	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright (Studies and Executed Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright)	Wright, Frank Lloyd
Bertram Goodhue	Wyllie, Romy
Japanese Houses Today	Yamawaki, Iwao
The Making of Classical Edinburgh 1750–1840	Youngson, Alexander John Brown
Storia dell’Architettura Moderna, vol. 2	Zevi, Bruno
Thinking Architecture	Zumthor, Peter

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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