John Hill’s Notable Books of 2012
Compiling a year-end list of notable books can be a tricky affair, given that publishing works in waves—spring and fall releases, to be precise. Furthermore, the wave that hits stores in the late fall and early winter just before the holidays tend to crowd out consideration toward earlier titles, much like the density of Oscar-worthy films bunched up at the end of the year vying for nominations in the short-term minds of Academy members. While this effect forces one to revisit books that were released earlier in the year, so as not to fall prey to year-end hype, it also makes it difficult to find trends that arise from books fitting into the 12-month calendar. Regardless, I’ve taken a stab at highlighting a few characteristics shared by titles on my list of ten notable books in 2012.
The monograph is far from dead. The architectural monograph has been touted as an “endangered species” (by Martin Filler in Architectural Record last year, among others), but three titles on my list fit into the category, and a fourth would be in there if my list extended to, say, a dozen. Monographs are particularly valuable when they compile information not readily available elsewhere (especially online sources), exploit the potential in controlling how text and images relate on a page, and become beautiful objects to hold. The monographs below are not groundbreaking, but they exhibit a lot of care in being made.
The juxtaposition of images and text in illustrated books is key. Increasingly books are talked about relative to online content, especially in terms of attention span, often expressed in word counts—a phrase like “nobody reads more than 5,000 words anymore” is common, an argument for shorter prose. Yet books benefit from being able to build up arguments across many pages that combine words and images, be it by one or a number of sources. Essays in related books from my list are often short, making them more readable to the digitally minded; and set between visual essays, for example, they take on new meanings. These books benefit by shifting between text and image, and between different voices, to comment on significant topics, be it healthcare, rampant urbanization, or living in a shrinking city.
Telling stories is not just for novels. When an architect or designer wants to get something across to a reader—be it a project, an argument, or just a point of view—wrapping it in a story is an effective tactic. It personalizes a design or experience and brings the reader closer to the content; one book below even uses the second-person voice to do such a thing. Close to half of the books on my list incorporate narrative in some manner: as a comic (the only bit of fiction on my list), as case studies, or as monographs. While image predominates these days, good writing is still important. When writing cuts through theory to help explicate matters it is often (but not always) effective.
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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.
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.
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.”
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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