Mohsen Mostafavi
An Intellectual Affiliation: Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List
How does one compile a short list of personally meaningful books? One way is to surrender to an almost unconscious process of simply picking the first titles that come to mind, but that method tends to skew the collection toward volumes most recently read. Instead, I have attempted to filter the selection to highlight titles that have been both inspiring and in some way formative to me as a designer and a teacher. Many of the books so chosen reflect my sense of intellectual affiliation with admired authors as much as an appreciation of specific content.
Nonfiction, Architecture
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Tafuri was as adept at architectural and urban history as he was with the architecture of the recent past. This small volume—a manifesto of sorts—demonstrates the power of the ideas of the author as much as it does of the architecture that is the subject of its analysis.
Three very short essays on Foucault's notion of the apparatus, on friendship, and on what it means to be contemporary. All three themes are of utmost relevance to designers.
Apart from all its other attributes, one of the best books on the idea of the city as an architectural section.
This is one of the most concise reflections on the relationship between architecture and the city. Rossi brings together his knowledge of history, sociology, and geography to enhance our urban imagination.
Conrads’s little encyclopedia provides one of the best introductions to some of the most critical ideas in architecture during the iconic period of 20th-century modernism.
A collection of essays on a wide-ranging set of themes bringing architecture and design under the same umbrella, demonstrating Rykwert's extraordinary range and originality.
Vesely is one the most influential teachers of architecture in the U.K. Originally from Prague, he is well versed in philosophy and art history. This book is the summation of years of research and thinking on creativity and its role within contemporary architectural practice. I feel fortunate to have both studied and taught with him.
Reyner (Pete) Banham was a genius in selecting topics of study well ahead of his time. This is one of the first and still one of the best books on the technologies of the building envelope and their consequences.
I was lucky enough to have met Summerson. This book is indispensable as a history of an important period in the development of London as well as for the study of architectural form and its social repercussions.
Undoubtedly one of the most preeminent historians of architecture, Ackerman is still going strong, here unraveling the work of one of the greatest architects ever. I feel lucky to know James Ackerman as a friend.
Evans had an amazing mind and saw architectural ideas like no other. His writing has a lightness of touch that invariably makes the past vital for the present. I am glad that I had the opportunity to initiate putting these essays together.
One of the last of the old-fashioned variety of “British Gentleman.” Price's architectural speculations and realized projects are still radical today. He was an inspiration for me, but more importantly to a generation of architects that includes Archigram, Foster, Rogers, Grimshaw, and Koolhaas, to name just a few.
There is little genuine architectural criticism today. Colquhoun's writing is a wonderful, precise, and clear example of the genre.
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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.
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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Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman
Love Letter to a Garden
By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025
From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.
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.”
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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