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.

author a–z

Nonfiction, Architecture

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318 books

Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles Stephen Gee Add to My Reading List	Churches in Rock Georg Gerster On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Building Erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition 1851 Charles H. Gibbs-Smith On James Biber’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mechanization Takes Command Sigfried Giedion On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On George Tscherny’s Book List On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List On Greg Lynn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Space, Time and Architecture Sigfried Giedion On Norman Foster’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List On Paul Marantz’s Book List On Cesar Pelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright Brendan Gill On Nancye Green’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Big Jim Mark Girouard On Richard Meier’s Book List On David Adjaye’s Book List On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Why Architecture Matters Paul Goldberger On Calvin Tsao’s Book List On list of Books by Paul Goldberger Add to My Reading List
Arts & Architecture: The Entenza Years Barbara Goldstein, ed. On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List Add to My Reading List	740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building Michael Gross On Ernest de la Torre’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Neoclassicism in the North Håkan Groth On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eléments et théorie de l’architecture Julien Guadet On Cesar Pelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mask of Medusa John Hejduk On Neil Denari’s Book List On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Education of an Architect John Hejduk On Kent Kleinman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Thermal Delight in Architecture Lisa Heschong On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In the Nature of Materials Henry-Russell Hitchcock On Norman Foster’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times Henry-Russell Hitchcock On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture: Romanticism and Reintegration Henry-Russell Hitchcock On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The International Style Henry-Russell Hitchcock et al. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Invention of Tradition Eric Hobsbawm et al. On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Libraries Candida Hofer et al. On Sou Fujimoto’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pamphlet Architecture 7 Steven Holl On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Against Architecture Denis Hollier On Tom Coward’s Book List On Daisy Froud’s Book List On Vincent Lacovara’s Book List On Geoff Shearcroft’s Book List Add to My Reading List	English Country Houses Christopher Hussey On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Frank Lloyd Wright Ada Louise Huxtable On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Lina Bo Bardi Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi On Jeanne Gang’s Book List On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Indian Summer Robert Grant Irving On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish Philip M. Isaacson On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics John Brinckerhoff Jackson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Hans Richter, New Living Andres Janser et al. On Jonathan Olivares’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Language of Post-Modern Architecture Charles Jencks On Alberto Alessi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mies van der Rohe Philip Johnson On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List
American Buildings and Their Architects, vol. 5: The Impact of European Modernism in the Mid-twentieth Century William H. Jordy On David Piscuskas’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Donald Judd: Raume Spaces Donald Judd et al. On Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Light is the Theme Louis Kahn On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students Louis I. Kahn On Peter Bohlin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	What Is Modern Design? Edgar Kaufmann Jr. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm (Vision + Value Series) György Kepes On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	American Architecture Fiske Kimball On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Brunelleschi’s Dome Ross King On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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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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