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


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

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Announcements

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Published: October 2023

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

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Published: May 2022

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Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

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

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

Milton Glaser: POP

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

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Publisher: Bloomsbury
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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)

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