Peter Pennoyer

Architect / United States / Peter Pennoyer Architects

Peter Pennoyer’s Book List

I may not be wired like most architects because I find words even more evocative than pictures. So my complete book list—my top 100—would be heavy on fiction and poetry. Working back, my favorite authors of the recent 100 years or so (skipping many great writers on design), would include Roberto Bolano, William Gaddis, Walker Percy, Frederick Buechner, Anthony Powell, Robert Musil, Paul Bowles, Evelyn Waugh, J. G. Farrell, Edith Wharton, and Isabelle Bolton. Instead, I am limiting my list to ten books that made a mark on me as I became an architect. Some are high, some are low, but these were books that stand out as touchstones.

1 book
Andrew Alpern

This compilation of plans of buildings in New York held a deep fascination for me and would lead me to write a paper on artists’ studio buildings. I would gaze at the plans and summon interiors, furnishings, and characters to inhabit these places.

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