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The Books That Inspired Robert Venturi

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Books as signposts and guides

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Robert Venturi (1925–September 18, 2018), along with his partner and wife, Denise Scott Brown, was the original inspiration behind the founding of Designers and Books. Together, these two esteemed architects, renowned as much for their writing as for their buildings, defined the relationship between the creative work of designers and the books they read—and write—as an expanding universe of interacting thoughts and ideas.

Venturi and Scott Brown’s long list of the books that inspired them was one of the first we published, and it is our profound honor to feature it again. The books included, the architects note, have been “signposts and guides in the evolving of our ideas.”

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Robert Venturi's Book List

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Robert Venturi

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Robert Venturi, Architect, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc.

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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.

Order the book.

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

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By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

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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

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

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