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

For an Architecture of Reality Michael Benedikt On Craig Dykers’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	Frank Lloyd Wright Ada Louise Huxtable On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Frank Lloyd Wright Meryle Secrest On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography Frank Lloyd Wright On Richard Meier’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’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	Frei Otto: Complete Works Winfried Nerdinger On Winka Dubbeldam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Friedrich Kiesler: Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer, 1890–1965 Dieter Bogner, ed. On Jürgen Mayer H.’s Book List Add to My Reading List
From Bauhaus to Our House Tom Wolfe On Peter Pennoyer’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	The Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings J. M. Richards On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fundamentals Rem Koolhaas On Carlo Ratti’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Future of Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Gardens of Russell Page Marina Schinz et al. On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Geoffrey Bawa Brian Brace Taylor On George Yabu’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Georgian London John Summerson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Gerrit Rietveld Ida von Ziji On Stanley Abercrombie’s Notable Books of 2011 list On Gijs Bakker’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	Great Houses of England and Wales Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd et al. On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Hans Richter, New Living Andres Janser et al. On Jonathan Olivares’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping Rem Koolhaas et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture John Summerson On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A History of Architecture Sir Banister Fletcher On Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method Banister Fletcher On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List
A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals Spiro Kostof On Kent Kleinman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	History of Modern Architecture (Storia dell’Architettura Moderna ) Leonardo Benevolo On Paolo Deganello’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Home: A Short History of an Idea Witold Rybczynski On list of Books by Witold Rybczynski On Bruce Hannah’s Book List On Temple St. Clair’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Horizons Norman Bel Geddes On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List Add to My Reading List	House X Peter Eisenman On list of Books by Peter Eisenman On Greg Lynn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	How Buildings Learn Stewart Brand On Tom Coward’s Book List On Daisy Froud’s Book List On Nancye Green’s Book List On Vincent Lacovara’s Book List On Geoff Shearcroft’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Hut of One’s Own Ann Cline On Peter Bohlin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles Stephen Gee Add to My Reading List
Imperial Delhi Andreas Volwahsen On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In the Nature of Materials Henry-Russell Hitchcock On Norman Foster’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In Praise of Architecture Gio Ponti On Marco Romanelli’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	Indian Summer Robert Grant Irving On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Informal Cecil Balmond On Terence Riley’s Book List On Florian Idenburg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The International Style Henry-Russell Hitchcock et al. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Interpreting the Renaissance (Ricerca dell’Rinascimento) Manfredo Tafuri On Jorge Silvetti’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.

Order the book.

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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