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Descriptions, hand-drawn illustrations, and photographs animate this book on the ways animals and insects construct their shelters—some of which turn out to be climate-specific and cleverly sited, while others seem more decorative and superfluous, labored over solely in order to attract a mate. By extension, the book offers fascinating clues for designing environmentally friendly shelters for we humanoid bipeds.
Franklin comes across as funny, arrogant, and (above all) innovative. His autobiography, credited with being the first of its kind, remains my all-time favorite of the memoir genre.
A book that allows you to see how the architecture and urbanism of Koolhaas and OMA continue to pursue the “culture of congestion” written about here. It demonstrates that a thesis constructed as an interesting question—in this case, “if Manhattan had a manifesto, what would it be?”—is far more engaging than one that proves a much-deliberated point. Witty and enjoyable to read, it has little in common with the dry majority of contemporary theory.
To this day, Design With Climate remains one of the clearest volumes on how to design “with,” rather than “against,” climate. Though our tools for understanding air movement and solar shading have now become more sophisticated, the brevity and precision in Olgyay’s simple, black-and-white diagrams make this a great resource for those interested in designing with climate in mind.
This book skillfully uncovers the contributions of Gray, a modernist Irish designer and architect who worked in Paris in the early 20th century. It reveals the story of her life as well as her connection with Le Corbusier, who is said to have coveted the house she designed for herself and Jean Badovici in the south of France.
Rice, a structural engineer, modestly recounts how some of the most famous buildings of the late 20th century were conceived and—even more interestingly—how they were achieved.
It is hard to choose a favorite among Gould’s witty elucidations on evolution. This one includes a fabulous analogy of “excellence” as found in baseball. It also includes an incredible analysis of statistics as opposed to statistical analysis.
A book that inhabits every crevice— inside, outside, atop, and below—a fabulous work of architecture.
While today’s oftentimes banal cities multiply and grow at dizzying rates, this book becomes all the more relevant for helping us imagine their untapped potential.
Out of print, but not out of mind, this book includes many great photographs, drawings, sketches, and essays. It is almost a documentary in its full sense of what it must have been like to work with the Italian-Brazilian modernist architect. Embodying the art, people, and life in her work, the book gives proper space to Bo Bardi’s architecture and its tropical vibrancy.
Using the lens of art and literature, this book illuminates the conflicted identity of America as a pastoral utopia versus an industrial giant. While literary criticism is often left behind after grad school, Marx’s book—through its astute and useful observations based on centuries of serious writing—has maintained a very long shelf life for me.
A well-researched history of the creation of William Smith’s great geological map that demonstrates the profound impact of transforming invisible knowledge into legible lines on a page.
The power of keen observation of natural phenomena informs this influential book, which stresses the ways in which structure and mechanics play a role in how living things find their form. What structure junky could resist discussions of spherical tetrahedrons, soap bubbles, or the delicate skeletal patterns found in radiolaria? Even though the science behind it has since been updated, Thompson’s book remains full of wonders.
A finely crafted argument making a case for natural selection and evolution that also lays out the difficulties with the theory. It is fascinating to get a sense of Darwin’s struggles at the points where there are missing pieces to the puzzle.
The book that laid the groundwork for understanding the ethical dimensions of our modern relationship to the natural environment. In one poetic chapter, the author must cut down an old oak that has been struck by lightning. As he cuts, he recounts eras of landscape history, moving backward through time as he saws through the growth rings of the tree.
A pre-Christian Irish epic about the events leading up to a great battle that depicts heroism, love and war, greed and deceit, and, of course, life and death. Ordinary experiences flow together with extraordinary mythical feats. The Kinsella translation is accompanied by the drawings of Louis Le Brocquy.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: 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.
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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