10 Books We Are Looking Forward To: Rizzoli Bookstore, New York

From the Publisher. Posters of the Art Deco period, which once graced billboards and walls to advertise every variety of product, service, entertainment, or political cause, are today prized for the richness of their design and ingenuity; they offer inspiration for graphic designers and are highly collectible. Now, William Crouse, a long-time poster aficionado and collector, has selected more than 300 of the most sought-after examples of poster art created between the World Wars to include in this definitive volume. Organized thematically (aviation, communication, fashion, etc.), The Art Deco Poster presents a jaunty cavalcade of international poster design, and includes rare and unique examples by masters of the art form, including Nizzoli, Cassandre, and Beall. Each poster—superbly photographed under carefully controlled conditions—is accompanied by an informative caption that addresses the aesthetic, sociological, economic, and/or political context of the image. The book includes an introduction by well-known Art Deco specialist Alastair Duncan.

# 1 Design Best Seller at Rizzoli Bookstore, New York (December 2013).

From the Publisher. An extraordinary and surreal art book, this edition has been redesigned by the author and includes new illustrations. Ever since the Codex Seraphinianus was first published in 1981, the book has been recognized as one of the strangest and most beautiful art books ever made. This visual encyclopedia of an unknown world written in an unknown language has fueled much debate over its meaning. Written for the information age and addressing the import of coding and decoding in genetics, literary criticism, and computer science, the Codex confused, fascinated, and enchanted a generation.

While its message may be unclear, its appeal is obvious: it is a most exquisite artifact. Blurring the distinction between art book and art object, this anniversary edition-redesigned by the author and featuring new illustrations-presents this unique work in a new, unparalleled light. With the advent of new media and forms of communication and continuous streams of information, the Codex is now more relevant and timely than ever. A special limited and numbered deluxe edition that includes a signed print is also available.

# 1 Design Best Seller at Hennessey + Ingalls Art & Architecture Bookstore, Los Angeles (January 2014).

# 1 Design Best Seller at Powell’s, Portland, OR (December 2013).

From the Publisher. For the house lover and the curious tourist, for the house buyer and the weekend stroller, for neighborhood preservation groups and for all who want to know more about their community—here, at last, is a book that makes it both easy and pleasurable to identify the various styles and periods of American domestic architecture.

Concentrating not on rare landmarks but on typical dwellings in ordinary neighborhoods all across the United States—houses built over the past three hundred years and lived in by Americans of every social and economic background—the book provides you with the facts (and frame of reference) that will enable you to look in a fresh way at the houses you constantly see around you. It tells you -- and shows you in more than 1,200 illustrations—what you need to know in order to be able to recognize the several distinct architectural styles and to understand their historical significance. What does that cornice mean? Or that porch? That door? When was this house built? What does its style say about the people who built it? You'll find the answers to such questions here.

This is how the book works: Each of thirty-nine chapters focuses on a particular style (and its variants). Each begins with a large schematic drawing that highlights the style's most important identifying features. Additional drawings and photographs depict the most common shapes and the principal subtypes, allowing you to see at a glance a wide range of examples of each style. Still more drawings offer close-up views of typical small details—windows, doors, cornices, etc. -- that might be difficult to see in full-house pictures. The accompanying text is rich in information about each style— describing in detail its identifying features, telling you where (and in what quantity) you're likely to find examples of it, discussing all of its notable variants, and revealing its origin and tracing its history.

In the book's introductory chapters you'll find invaluable general discussions of house-building materials and techniques ("Structure"), house shapes ("Form"), and the many traditions of architectural fashion ("Style") that have influenced American house design through the past three centuries. A pictorial key and glossary help lead you from simple, easily recognized architectural features—the presence of a tile roof, for example—to the styles in which that feature is likely to be found.

From Yale University Press; #1 Design Best Seller at Van Alen Books, New York (November 2013). Richly illustrated with new and period photographs and original drawings, as well as previously unpublished materials from personal interviews, archives, and Kahn’s own writings, The Houses of Louis Kahn shows how the architect’s ideas about domestic spaces challenged conventions, much like his major public commissions, and were developed into one of the most remarkable expressions of the American house.

Read the Notable Book of 2013 review.

From the Publisher. Award-winning interior designer Timothy Corrigan provides inspiration and instruction in the art of French decoration and living with the story of his stunningly restored French chateau. Who hasn’t dreamed of an idyll in the French countryside, in a handsome historic house surrounded by fragrant gardens and lush orchards, filled with pretty rooms for entertaining friends? Welcome to Chateau du Grand-Lucé, designer Timothy Corrigan’s home in the Loire Valley. Corrigan purchased the chateau in 2004 and set about restoring the house to its full French glory with his signature mix of continental elegance and California comfort. The book travels from the striking entry hall to the elegant bedrooms, as Corrigan offers indispensable decorating advice based on his experiences, including how to live in historic homes in a modern way. A celebration of the gracious symmetry of French classical decoration and architecture amid the pastoral beauty of the French countryside, An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Lucé is the perfect gift for all Francophiles.

From the Publisher. Visionary Danish architect Jørn Utzon was just 38 years old when in 1957 he was named the surprise winner of an international competition to design the Sydney Opera House in Australia. His bold design consisting of five performance halls topped by billowing concrete shells clad in ceramic tile is universally recognized as a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. While this early triumph brought Utzon worldwide fame, it overshadowed a larger body of work of great importance for modern architecture. Utzon's highly diverse projects around the globe, from the National Assembly in Kuwait and Melli Bank in Tehran, Iran, to the Bagsværd Church and numerous houses in Denmark, are testaments to his belief that modernism need not sacrifice local character to be forward thinking. Organized into six thematic chapters—place, working method, building culture, construction, materiality, and living—Jørn Utzon presents all of his important work as well as many of his lesser-known, though equally important competition entries, furniture designs, and other built projects.

From the Publisher. The eagerly anticipated first monograph to celebrate the fifty-years-and-counting career of decorating legend Mario Buatta. Influenced by the understated elegance of Colefax and Fowler and the doyenne of exuberant American decor, Sister Parish, Buatta reinvented the English Country House style stateside for clients such as Henry Ford II, Barbara Walters, Malcolm Forbes, and Mariah Carey, and for Blair House, the President’s guest quarters. The designer is acclaimed for his sumptuous rooms that layer fine antiques, confectionary curtains, and sublime colorations, creating an atmosphere of lived-in opulence. This lavishly illustrated survey—filled with images taken for the foremost shelter magazines as well as many unpublished photographs from the designer’s own archive—closely follows Buatta’s highly documented career from his professional start in the 1950s working for department store B. Altman & Co. and Elisabeth Draper, Inc. to his most recent projects, which include some of the country’s finest residences. Buatta shares exclusive insights into his process, his own rules for decorating, and personal stories of his adventures along the way.

From the Publisher. Culled from our Illustration Now series is this selection of today’s most successful and important illustrators from around the globe. In his introduction, Steven Heller fleshes out the challenging process of narrowing down a field of 600 illustrators to a selection of the 100 most significant. The final cut, including artists such as Istvan Banyai, Gary Baseman, Seymour Chwast, Paul Davis, Brad Holland, Mirko Ilic, Anita Kunz, and Christoph Niemann, provides a snapshot of the highly dynamic and diverse world of contemporary illustration.

Updated: Forthcoming March 2014. From the Publisher. Unquestionably one of the most influential and revered contemporary architects, Peter Zumthor has approached his work with a singular clarity of vision and a strong sense of his own philosophy, both of which have earned him the admiration of his peers and the world at large. Choosing to only take on a few projects at a time and keep his studio small, Zumthor has produced a comparatively few number of realized buildings, but they rank among the world’s most stunning: St. Benedict’s Chapel in Sumvitg, Switzerland; Therme Vals in Vals, Switzerland; Kunsthaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria; and the Kolumba Art Museum in Cologne, Germany number among his most famous buildings. This collection, however, explores his entire body of award-winning work from 1986 to 2012 in five volumes, including his lesser-known but nonetheless critically acclaimed works such as the Field Chapel for Brother Klaus near Mechernich, Germany, and the Steilneset Memorial for the Victims of the Witch Trials in Vardø, Norway.

Peter Zumthor presents around forty of his projects, both realized and unrealized, through Zumthor’s own writing, and with photographs, sketches, drawings, and plans. A complete catalog of his works starting in 1979 rounds out the book. Richly illustrated and beautifully designed, this book serves as both an introduction to Zumthor’s work and philosophy for the layperson and a required addition to any architect’s library.

Updated: Forthcoming 2014. From the Publisher. Amateur Attitude examines the recent work of the Chinese architect Wang Shu, Pritzker Prize winner in 2012. Exhibiting a contemporary aesthetic, the architect's buildings show his intense engagement with their setting and its history, coupled with reliance on traditional building techniques. The essays place the architect's work in its contemporary context, while extensive illustrations provide exclusive insights into his varied creative work.