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.

title a–z

Nonfiction, Architecture

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318 books

Mies van der Rohe Philip Johnson On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography Franz Schulze On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On Wim Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Minimum John Pawson On Victoria Meyers’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	Modern Architecture Alan Colquhoun On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture and Other Essays Vincent Scully On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture: Romanticism and Reintegration Henry-Russell Hitchcock On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture, 1851-1945 Kenneth Frampton On list of Books by Kenneth Frampton Add to My Reading List
Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939 Christopher Wilk, ed. On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm (Vision + Value Series) György Kepes On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Monograph of the Works of McKim Mead & White 1879–1915 Leland Roth On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Morphosis - Combinatory Urbanism: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form Thom Mayne Add to My Reading List	The Most Beautiful House in the World Witold Rybczynski On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On list of Books by Witold Rybczynski 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 Natural House Frank Lloyd Wright On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics John Brinckerhoff Jackson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Necessity of Artifice Joseph Rykwert On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Neoclassicism in the North Håkan Groth On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	New Directions in British Architecture Deyan Sudjic On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	New York 1930 Robert A. M. Stern et al. On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Nine Chains to the Moon R. Buckminster Fuller On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Notes on the Synthesis of Form Christopher Alexander On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On Cino Zucchi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark Pamela M. Lee On Christian Wassmann’s Book List Add to My Reading List
On Adam’s House in Paradise Joseph Rykwert On Stanley Tigerman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	On the Art of Building in Ten Books Leon Battista Alberti On Daniel Libeskind’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	Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster Fuller On Norman Foster’s Book List On Carlo Ratti’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Opus Architecturum Francesco Borromini On Daniel Libeskind’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	Outrage Ian Nairn On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Palladio James Ackerman On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Pamphlet Architecture 27, Tooling Benjamin Aranda et al. On Terence Riley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pamphlet Architecture 7 Steven Holl On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Paradise Planned Robert A.M. Stern et al. On Witold Rybczynski’s Notable Books of 2013 list Add to My Reading List	A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander et al. On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On Nancye Green’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Chris Bangle’s Book List On Peter Bohlin’s Book List On Carola Zwick’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Perfect Acts of Architecture Jeffrey Kipnis On Terence Riley’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	Philip Johnson: Life and Work Franz Schulze On Paul Goldberger’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

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

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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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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