Notable Design Books of 2013

Our Book Board members–including designers, commentators, and specially invited guest contributors–have chosen these as the most notable design books of 2013. The recommendations are submitted throughout the calendar year.

Also see Notable Books: Reviews, Notable Design Books of 2012 and Notable Design Books of 2011.

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87 books


The Afterlife of Emerson Tang	Champa, Paula	Houghton Mifflin	$26.00
Albert Speer	Krier, Léon et al.	The Monacelli Press	$75.00
All the Buildings in New York *That I’ve Drawn So Far	Hancock, James Gulliver	Rizzoli International Publications	$19.95
Álvaro Siza: Complete Works 1952–2013	Jodidio, Philip	TASCHEN	$150.00
Architectural Guide Japan	Bognar, Botond	DOM Publishers	$50.00
Architecture of Santiniketan	Das, Samit	Niyogi Books
Architecture on the Carpet	Vale, Brenda et al.	Thames & Hudson	$27.95
Building Seagram	Lambert, Phyllis et al.	Yale University Press	$65.00
Carlo Scarpa: Venini, 1932–1947	Barovier, Marino	Rizzoli International Publications	$95.00
City of Ambition	Williams, Mason B.	W. W. Norton	$29.95
Cosmos of Light	Plummer, Henry	Indiana University Press	$39.00
A Country of Cities	Chakrabarti, Vishaan	Metropolis Books	$29.95
Creative Confidence	Kelley, Tom et al.	Crown	$29.00
Creative Engineering, Architecture, and Technology	Hammann, Ralph	DOM Publishers	$99.95
Culture:City	Wang, Wilfried	Lars Müller Publishers	$55.00
D&AD: 50	Stanley, Ron	TASCHEN	$59.99
Dekho	Codesign, et al.	Codesign	$42.00
The Design Book: 1000 New Designs for the Home and Where to Find Them	Hudson, Jennifer	Laurence King Publishing	$30.00
Design Forward	Esslinger, Hartmut	ARNOLDSCHE Art Publishers	$40.00
Deventer	Stadler, Matthew et al.	nai010 Publishers
Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Architecture after Images	Dimendberg, Edward	The University of Chicago Press	$65.00
Discovering Architecture	Jodidio, Philip et al.	Rizzoli International Publications	$45.00
Eileen Gray: Objects and Furniture Design	Espegel, Carmen et al.	Ediciones Polígrafa	$30.00
Emilio Pucci	Friedman, Vanessa et al.	TASCHEN	$69.99
Encounters 2	Pallasmaa, Juhani et al.	Rakennustieto
Eva Zeisel: Life, Design, and Beauty	Kirkham, Pat et al.	Chronicle Books	$50.00
Everything Loose Will Land	Lavin, Sylvia et al.	Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg
Everything Sings: Maps for a Narrative Atlas	Wood, Denis	Siglio	$32.00
Experiments with Life Itself	González de Canales, Francisco	Actar	$39.95
Fashion Design, Referenced	Kennedy, Alicia et al.	Rockport Publishers	$41.25
Formica Forever	Lange, Alexandra et al.	Metropolis Books	$39.95
Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design	Kidd, Chip	Workman	$17.95
Graphic Icons	Clifford, John	Peachpit Press	$31.99
Hall of Femmes: Lella Vignelli	Bouabana, Samira et al.	Hall of Femmes/Oyster Press	$19.65
Hall of Femmes: Tomoko Miho	Bouabana, Samira et al.	Hall of Femmes/Oyster Press	$19.65
Hand-Drying in America	Katchor, Ben	Random House	$29.95
Handbook of California Design, 1930-1965	Tigerman, Bobbye	The MIT Press	$34.95
Hello World	Rawsthorn, Alice	Hamish Hamilton	$30.00
Henri Labrouste	Bélier, Corinne et al.	The Museum of Modern Art	$55.00
Hippie Chic	Whitley, Lauren	MFA Publications	$35.00
The Houses of Louis Kahn	Marcus, George H. et al.	Yale University Press	$65.00
How Architecture Works	Rybczynski, Witold	Farrar, Straus and Giroux	$27.00
The Images of Architects	Olgiati, Valerio	Quart Architektur
Interviewing Users	Portigal, Steve	Rosenfeld Media	$39.00
The Invention of Craft	Adamson, Glenn	Bloomsbury	$29.95
Irma Boom: The Architecture of the Book	Boom, Irma et al.	Lecturis	$45.50
Italian Liberty Style	De Guttry, Irene et al.	24 Ore Cultura	$45.00
It’s Modern: The Eye and Visual Influence of Alexander Liberman	Churchward, Charles	Rizzoli International Publications	$65.00
James Stirling: Revisionary Modernist	Lawrence, Amanda Reeser	Yale University Press	$45.00
James Turrell: A Retrospective	Govan, Michael et al.	Prestel Publishing	$75.00
Kamisaka Sekka	Trinh, Khanh et al.	Prestel Publishing	$50.00
Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes	Cohen, Jean-Louis et al.	The Museum of Modern Art	$75.00
The Light Pavilion	Kumpusch, Christoph a.	Lars Müller Publishers	$15.00
Lina Bo Bardi	Lima, Zeuler Rocha Mello de Almeida et al.	Yale University Press	$65.00
Lolita—The Story of a Cover Girl: Vladimir Nabokov’s Novel in Art and Design	Bertram, John et al.	Print Publishing	$18.00
Luxurious Minimalism	von der Schulenburg, Fritz	Rizzoli International Publications	$60.00
Mapping Manhattan	Cooper, Becky et al.	Abrams	$19.95
Mario Buatta: Fifty Years of American Interior Decoration	Buatta, Mario et al.	Rizzoli International Publications	$75.00
The Metropolitan Revolution	Katz, Bruce et al.	Brookings Institution Press	$29.95
Moroccan Carpets and Modern Art	Adam, Jürgen et al.	ARNOLDSCHE Art Publishers	$115.00
The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World	de Laubier, Guillaume et al.	Abrams	$60.00
Multiple Signatures	Rock, Michael	Rizzoli International Publications	$35.00
MVRDV Buildings	MVRDV, et al.	nai010 Publishers	$95.00
The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon	Dalley, Stephanie	Oxford University Press	$34.95
Never Built Los Angeles	Lubell, Sam et al.	Metropolis Books	$55.00
A New Sculpturalism	Mount, Christopher et al.	Rizzoli International Publications	$65.00
100 Years of Architectural Drawing	Bingham, Neil	Laurence King Publishing	$50.00
Out There	Brito, Maria Gabriela	Pointed Leaf Press	$60.00
Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990	Wit, Wim de et al.	Getty Research Institute	$59.95
Paradise Planned	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.	The Monacelli Press	$95.00
PIN-UP Interviews	PIN-UP, et al.	powerHouse Books	$29.95
The Pinecone	Uglow, Jenny	Farrar, Straus and Giroux	$28.00
Printer’s Devil	Loxley, Simon et al.	David R. Godine	$45.00
Shadow Type	Heller, Steven et al.	Princeton Architectural Press	$55.00
Shiro Kuramata	Sudjic, Deyan et al.	Phaidon Press	$150.00
Staircases	Tusquets Blanca, Oscar	The Vendome Press	$75.00
The Sustainable Fashion Handbook	Black, Sandy	Thames & Hudson	$55.00
Swiss Made	Breiding, R. James	Profile Books
Synesthetic Design	Haverkamp, Michael	Birkhäuser	$69.95
The Library	Campbell, James W. P. et al.	The University of Chicago Press	$75.00
Theater of Architecture	Hardy, Hugh	Princeton Architectural Press	$50.00
Threads of Silk and Gold	McDermott, Hiroko T. et al.	Ashmolean Museum	$40.00
Tom Dixon: Dixonary	Dixon, Tom	Violette Editions	$49.95
Type Only	Sinclair, Mark et al.	Unit Editions	$68.00
Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books of Ed Ruscha	Brouws, Jeff et al.	The MIT Press	$39.95
Visions of Seaside	Thadani, Dhiru A. et al.	Rizzoli International Publications	$75.00
Wunderkammer	Williams, Tod et al.	Yale University Press	$29.00

Announcements

If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture by Moshe Safdie

If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture

By Moshe Safdie
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Published: September 2022

One of the world’s greatest and most thoughtful architects recounts his extraordinary career and the iconic structures he has built—from Habitat in Montreal to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore—and offers a manifesto for the role architecture should play in society.

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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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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York by Steven Heller

Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York

By Steven Heller
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Published: October 2022

An entertaining coming-of-age memoir from Steven Heller, award-winning designer, writer, and former senior art director at the New York Times, that takes readers on a visually inspired look back at being at the center of New York’s youth culture in the 1960s and ’70s.

Pre-order the book.

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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Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman

Women Holding Things

By Maira Kalman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: October 2022

In the spring of 2021, Maira and Alex Kalman created a small, limited-edition booklet, “Women Holding Things,” which featured select recent paintings by Maira, accompanied by her insightful and deeply personal commentary. The booklet quickly sold out. Now, the Kalmans have expanded that original publication into an extraordinary visual compendium. We see a woman hold a book, hold shears, hold children, hold a grudge, hold up, hold her own. In visually telling their stories, Kalman lays bare the essence of women’s lives—their tenacity, courage, vulnerability, hope, and pain.

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