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

Cosmos of Light Henry Plummer On John Hill’s Notable Books of 2013 list Add to My Reading List	The Prisons (Le Carceri) Giovanni Battista Piranesi On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Frank Lloyd Wright: Collected Writings, Vol. 1, 1894–1930 Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, ed. On Victoria Meyers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Outline of European Architecture Nikolaus Pevsner On Norman Foster’s Book List On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius Nikolaus Pevsner On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	To Engineer Is Human Henry Petroski On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, 2nd edition (Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture) Claude Perrault On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen et al. On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On list of Books by Alexandra Lange Add to My Reading List
What If...?: The Architecture and Design of David Rockwell Chee Pearlman, ed. et al. On Jules Fisher’s Book List On list of Books by David Rockwell Add to My Reading List	Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals Christopher Payne et al. On Jessica Helfand’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Minimum John Pawson On Victoria Meyers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism Martin Pawley et al. On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Perspecta 12, The Yale Architectural Journal Peter Papademetriou et al. On James Biber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism Erwin Panofsky On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses Juhani Pallasmaa On list of Books by Juhani Pallasmaa On Peter Bohlin’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Four Books on Architecture Andrea Palladio On Michael Graves’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Traditional Islamic Craft in Moroccan Architecture André Paccard On Diana Balmori’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design with Climate Victor Olgyay On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Alexander Girard Todd Oldham et al. On Jonathan Adler’s Book List On Wendy Goodman’s Notable Books of 2011 list On list of Books by Todd Oldham Add to My Reading List	The Curves of Time Oscar Niemeyer On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art Fritz Neumeyer On Stanley Tigerman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Frei Otto: Complete Works Winfried Nerdinger On Winka Dubbeldam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Bauhaus Reassessed: Sources and Design Theory Gillian Naylor On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Outrage Ian Nairn On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Nairn’s London Ian Nairn On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Nairn’s Paris Ian Nairn On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The English House Hermann Muthesius On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	File Under Architecture Herbert Muschamp On Véronique Vienne’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Thinking Drawing/Working Drawing Glenn Murcutt On Peter Bohlin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Roots of Contemporary American Architecture Lewis Mumford On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	From the Ground Up Lewis Mumford On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In the Life of Cities Mohsen Mostafavi, ed. On list of Books by Mohsen Mostafavi On Hugh Hardy’s Book List Add to My Reading List
On Weathering Mohsen Mostafavi et al. On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List On list of Books by Mohsen Mostafavi Add to My Reading List	You Have to Pay for the Public Life Charles, W. Moore et al. On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The City Observed: Los Angeles Charles Moore On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Great Houses of England and Wales Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd et al. On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Miralles/Pinos 1983–1990 Enric Miralles On Aldo Bakker’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architecture and Politics in Germany: 1918-1945 Barbara Miller Lane On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Classic Style Judith Miller On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Presence of Mies Detlef Mertins On Terence Riley’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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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.

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The Picture Book Book: The Art of Seymour Chwast by Seymour Chwast; curated by Steven Heller

The Picture Book Book: The Art of Seymour Chwast

By Seymour Chwast, curated by Steven Heller
Publisher: Gestalten
Published: June 2026

Seymour Chwast, legendary co-founder of Push Pin Studios, reinvented how we see and read picture books. The Picture Book Book gathers over 40 of his works, curated by Steven Heller, and offers a rare look at his playful, incisive approach to visual storytelling. From bold graphics to sly wit, Chwast’s books expanded the boundaries of design and children’s literature alike.

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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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