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 z–a

Nonfiction, Architecture

list

view as:
covers
list

318 books


Zone 1/2	Feher, Michael et al.	Comments:
Your Private Sky: R. Buckminster Fuller	Lichtenstein, Claude et al.
You Have to Pay for the Public Life	Moore, Charles et al.
Wooden Houses	Suzuki, Makoto et al.
Without Rhetoric	Smithson, Alison Margaret et al.
Why Architecture Matters	Goldberger, Paul
White Walls, Designer Dresses	Wigley, Mark
When the Cathedrals Were White	Le Corbusier,
What Is Modern Design?	Kaufmann Jr., Edgar
What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays	Agamben, Giorgio
What If...?: The Architecture and Design of David Rockwell	Pearlman, Chee et al.
Watermark	Brodsky, Joseph
Walter Pichler: Zwei Troge, Wasserrinnen	Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman,
Walter Gropius e la Bauhaus	Argan, Carlo Giulio
Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture	Vitruvius Pollio, et al.
Venezia Minore	Trincanato, Egle R.
Utzon	Weston, Richard
Uppercase 3	Smithson, Alison Margaret et al.
Unbuilding	Macaulay, David
Twenty Minutes in Manhattan	Sorkin, Michael
The Turning Point of Building	Wachsmann, Konrad
Trutg dil Flem: Seven Bridges by Jürg Conzett	Dechau, Wilfried et al.
Trotzdem, 1900–1930	Loos, Adolf
Tropical Modernism	Trulove, James Grayson
Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays	Evans, Robin
Traditional Islamic Craft in Moroccan Architecture	Paccard, André
Town and Revolution	Kopp, Anatole
Towards a New Architecture (Vers une Architecture)	Le Corbusier,
Too Much Is Never Enough	Lapidus, Morris
To Engineer Is Human	Petroski, Henry
Thinking Drawing/Working Drawing	Murcutt, Glenn
Thinking Architecture	Zumthor, Peter
Thermal Delight in Architecture	Heschong, Lisa
Theory and Design in the First Machine Age	Banham, Reyner
Theories and History of Architecture (Teoria e storia dell’architettura)	Tafuri, Manfredo
The Making of Classical Edinburgh 1750–1840	Youngson, Alexander John Brown
The Swedish House	Snitt, Ingalill et al.
Super Constellation	Asendorf, Christoph
Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics	Semper, Gottfried
Studies in Tectonic Culture	Frampton, Kenneth
The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism	Pawley, Martin et al.
Storia dell’Architettura Moderna, vol. 2	Zevi, Bruno
The Stones of Venice	Ruskin, John
The Sphere and the Labyrinth (La sfera e il labirinto)	Tafuri, Manfredo
Space, Time and Architecture	Giedion, Sigfried
Space Calculated in Seconds	Treib, Marc
Snøhetta Works	Snøhetta,
Sir John Soane: The Architect as Collector, 1753-1837	Thornton, Peter et al.
Sigurd Lewerentz, 1888-1975	Architectural Association,
The Shingle Style Today	Scully, Vincent
The Shingle Style and the Stick Style	Scully, Vincent
Shack Chic	Fraser, Craig
740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building	Gross, Michael
The Sense of Unity	Ardalan, Nader et al.
SANAA: Spiel der Gegensätze/The Play of Opposites	Sejima, Kazuyo et al.
Saarinen’s Quest: A Memoir	Knight, Richard et al.
S, M, L, XL	Koolhaas, Rem et al.
Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish	Isaacson, Philip M.
Roots of Contemporary American Architecture	Mumford, Lewis
Ronchamp	Le Corbusier,
The Rome of Borromini	Portoghesi, Paolo
Roma Barocca	Portoghesi, Paolo
Robert Maillart	Bill, Max
Recueil et Parallèle des Edifices de tout genre Anciens et Modernes	Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis
Re-cycle	Ciorra, Pippo
Re: CP	Price, Cedric et al.
Quotidiano sostenibile	Manzini, Ezio et al.
Pyramid	Macaulay, David
The Projective Cast	Evans, Robin
Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture	Conrads, Ulrich
The Prodigious Builders	Rudofsky, Bernard
Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media	Colomina, Beatriz
The Prisons (Le Carceri)	Piranesi, Giovanni Battista
The Presence of Mies	Mertins, Detlef
Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction	Smith, Ryan E.
The Power Broker	Caro, Robert
Planned Assaults	Lerup, Lars et al.
A Place of My Own	Pollan, Michael
Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius	Pevsner, Nikolaus
Philip Johnson: Life and Work	Schulze, Franz
Perspecta 12, The Yale Architectural Journal	Papademetriou, Peter
Perfect Acts of Architecture	Kipnis, Jeffrey
A Pattern Language	Alexander, Christopher et al.
Paradise Planned	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
Pamphlet Architecture 7	Holl, Steven
Pamphlet Architecture 27, Tooling	Aranda, Benjamin et al.
Palladio	Ackerman, James S.
Outrage	Nairn, Ian
An Outline of European Architecture	Pevsner, Nikolaus
Opus Architecturum	Borromini, Francesco et al.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth	Fuller, R. Buckminster
On Weathering	Mostafavi, Mohsen et al.
On the Art of Building in Ten Books	Alberti, Leon Battista
On Adam’s House in Paradise	Rykwert, Joseph
Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark	Lee, Pamela M.
Notes on the Synthesis of Form	Alexander, Christopher
Nine Chains to the Moon	Fuller, R. Buckminster
New York 1930	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
New Directions in British Architecture	Sudjic, Deyan
Neoclassicism in the North	Groth, Håkan
The Necessity of Artifice	Rykwert, Joseph
The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics	Jackson, John Brinckerhoff
The Natural House	Wright, Frank Lloyd
Nairn’s Paris	Nairn, Ian
Nairn’s London	Nairn, Ian
The Most Beautiful House in the World	Rybczynski, Witold
Morphosis - Combinatory Urbanism: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form	Mayne, Thom
A Monograph of the Works of McKim Mead & White 1879–1915	Roth, Leland M.
Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm (Vision + Value Series)	Kepes, Gyorgy
Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939	Wilk, Christopher
Modern Architecture, 1851-1945	Frampton, Kenneth et al.
Modern Architecture: Romanticism and Reintegration	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
Modern Architecture and Other Essays	Scully, Vincent
Modern Architecture	Colquhoun, Alan
Miralles/Pinos 1983–1990	Miralles, Enric
Minimum	Pawson, John
Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography	Schulze, Franz
Mies van der Rohe	Johnson, Philip
Mies van de Rohe: Critical Essays	Schulze, Franz
Miami Modern Metropolis	Shulman, Allan T.
Megastructure	Banham, Reyner
Mechanization Takes Command	Giedion, Sigfried
The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays	Rowe, Colin
Mastering Tradition: The Residential Architecture of John Russell Pope	Garrison, James B.
Mask of Medusa	Hejduk, John
Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright	Gill, Brendan
The Manhattan Transcripts	Tschumi, Bernard
Louis Kahn: On the Thoughtful Making of Spaces	Merrill, Michael
Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students	Kahn, Louis I.
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies	Banham, Reyner
Lina Bo Bardi	Bardi, Lina Bo
Light is the Theme	Kahn, Louis I.
The Life and Work of John Nash, Architect	Summerson, John
Libraries	Höfer, Candida et al.
Letters to Clients	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, 2nd edition (Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture)	Perrault, Claude
Le Corbusier: Oeuvre Complète (Complete Works)	Boesiger, Willy
Learning from Las Vegas	Venturi, Robert et al.
Le Modulor	Le Corbusier,
Le Corbusier: A Life	Weber, Nicholas Fox
L’Architecture	Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas
The Language of Post-Modern Architecture	Jencks, Charles
La Villa Kérylos	Vian des Rives, Régis
La Prima Architettura Barocca (The First Baroque Architecture)	Brandi, Cesare
La Nueva Villa Getty	Silvetti, Jorge et al.
La Maison de Verre: Pierre Chareau’s Modernist Masterwork	Vellay, Dominique
Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings	Sullivan, Louis H.
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, Sanaa Works 1995–2003	Sejima, Kazuyo et al.
Journeys: How Travelling Fruit, Ideas and Buildings Rearrange our Environment	Borasi, Giovanna
Joe Colombo	Kries, Mateo et al.
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 3	Sulzer, Peter
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 2	Sulzer, Peter
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 1	Sulzer, Peter
Japanese Houses Today	Yamawaki, Iwao
Italy: The New Domestic Landscape	Ambasz, Emilio
Italian Splendor	Basehart, Jack et al.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel	Rolt, L.T.C.
The Invention of Tradition	Hobsbawm, E. J. et al.
Interpreting the Renaissance (Ricerca dell’Rinascimento)	Tafuri, Manfredo
The International Style	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell et al.
Informal	Balmond, Cecil
Indian Summer	Irving, Robert Grant
In the Life of Cities	Mostafavi, Mohsen
In Praise of Architecture	Ponti, Gio
In the Nature of Materials	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
Imperial Delhi	Volwahsen, Andreas
Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles	Gee, Stephen
A Hut of One’s Own	Cline, Ann
How Buildings Learn	Brand, Stewart
House X	Eisenman, Peter
Horizons	Bel Geddes, Norman
Home: A Short History of an Idea	Rybczynski, Witold
History of Modern Architecture (Storia dell’Architettura Moderna )	Benevolo, Leonardo
A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals	Kostof, Spiro
A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method	Fletcher, Banister
A History of Architecture	Fletcher, Banister
Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture	Summerson, John
Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping	Koolhaas, Rem et al.
Hans Richter, New Living	Janser, Andres et al.
Great Houses of England and Wales	Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh et al.
Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism	Panofsky, Erwin
Gerrit Rietveld	van Zijl, Ida
Georgian London	Summerson, John
Geoffrey Bawa	Taylor, Brian Brace
The Gardens of Russell Page	Schinz, Marina et al.
The Future of Architecture	Wright, Frank Lloyd
Fundamentals	Koolhaas, Rem
The Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings	Richards, J. M.
From the Ground Up	Mumford, Lewis
From Bauhaus to Our House	Wolfe, Tom
Friedrich Kiesler: Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer, 1890–1965	Bogner, Dieter
Frei Otto: Complete Works	Nerdinger, Winfried
Frank Lloyd Wright: Collected Writings, Vol. 1, 1894–1930	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography	Wright, Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd Wright	Secrest, Meryle
Frank Lloyd Wright	Huxtable, Ada Louise
The Four Books on Architecture	Palladio, Andrea
For an Architecture of Reality	Benedikt, Michael
Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture	Schorske, Carl E.
File Under Architecture	Muschamp, Herbert
A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in Europe	Stimpson, Miriam F.
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses	Pallasmaa, Juhani
Experiencing Architecture	Rasmussen, Steen Eiler
Essential Le Corbusier: L’Esprit Nouveau Articles	Le Corbusier,
The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture	Wright, Frank Lloyd et al.
Essays in Architectural Criticism	Colquhoun, Alan
Esperienza dell’Architettura	Rogers, Ernesto
The English House	Muthesius, Hermann
English Country Houses	Hussey, Christopher
An Engineer Imagines	Rice, Peter
Emotionally Durable Design	Chapman, Jonathan
Eliot Noyes	Bruce, Gordon
Eléments et théorie de l’architecture	Guadet, Julien
Eileen Gray	Adam, Peter
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future	Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa et al.
Education of an Architect	Hejduk, John
Edifices de Rome Moderne	Letarouilly, Paul Marie
The Edifice Complex	Sudjic, Deyan
The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods	Scully, Vincent
Donald Judd: Raume Spaces	Judd, Donald et al.
Disappearing Architecture	Flachbart, Georg
Digital Water Pavilion	Ratti, Carlo
Differences	Solà-Morales Rubió, Ingnasi
Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini’s Visit to France	Chantelou, Paul Fréart de
Dialogues	Valéry, Paul
The Devil in the White City	Larson, Erik
The Details of Modern Architecture	Ford, Edward R.
Design with Nature	McHarg, Ian
Design with Climate	Olgyay, Victor
Design Like You Give a Damn	Sinclair, Cameron et al.
Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object	Thackara, John
Design Activism	Fuad-Luke, Alastair
Delirious New York	Koolhaas, Rem
David Adler: The Architect and His Work	Pratt, Richard
The Curves of Time	Niemeyer, Oscar
Critical Path	Fuller, R. Buckminster
A Critic Writes: Essays by Reyner Banham	Banham, Reyner
Creation is a Patient Search (L’atelier de la recherche patiente)	Le Corbusier,
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things	McDonough, William et al.
The Country Houses of David Adler	Salny, Stephen
Cosmos of Light	Plummer, Henry
Constant’s New Babylon	Wigley, Mark
Conditions	Snøhetta,
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture	Venturi, Robert
Community and Privacy	Chermayeff, Serge et al.
The Classical Language of Architecture	Summerson, John
Classic Style	Miller, Judith
The City Observed: Los Angeles	Moore, Charles
Churches in Rock	Gerster, Georg
Chicago’s Famous Buildings	Schulze, Franz et al.
The Charlottesville Tapes	Various authors; transcript of conference at the University of Virginia, November 12–13, 1982,
Charles and Ray Eames	Kirkham, Pat
Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture	Collins, Peter
Cedric Price (Works II) [The Square Book]	Price, Cedric
Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Works	Dal Co, Francesco et al.
Carlo Scarpa: Architecture in Details	Albertini, Bianca et al.
Carlo Scarpa: Theory, Design, Projects	Crippa, Maria Antonietta
Carlo Scarpa	Saito, Yutaka
By Design	Caplan, Ralph
Building with Nantucket in Mind	Lang, J. Christopher et al.
The Building Erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition 1851	Gibbs-Smith, Charles H.
Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi: Best of Friends	Sadao, Shoji et al.
Brunelleschi’s Dome	King, Ross
Big Jim	Girouard, Mark
Between Zero and Infinity	Libeskind, Daniel
Bertram Goodhue	Wyllie, Romy
Behind the Picture Window	Rudofsky, Bernard
Bauhaus: Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, Chicago	Wingler, Hans
The Bauhaus Reassessed: Sources and Design Theory	Naylor, Gillian
Barragán Guide	Barragán, Luis
Autobiografia scientifica (A Scientific Autobiography)	Rossi, Aldo
Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright (Studies and Executed Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright)	Wright, Frank Lloyd
At Home by the Sea	Vanden Brink, Brian et al.
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals	Payne, Christopher et al.
As I Was Saying	Rowe, Colin
Arts & Architecture: The Entenza Years	Goldstein, Barbara
The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art	Neumeyer, Fritz
Archizoom Associati, 1966–1974	Gargiani, Roberto
Architetture nel Segno dei Maestri	Buttafava, Claudio et al.
Architettura addio	Mendini, Alessandro
The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein	Leitner, Bernhard
Architecture: Form, Space, and Order	Ching, Francis D. K.
Architecture Without Architects	Rudofsky, Bernard
The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment	Banham, Reyner
Architecture and Utopia	Tafuri, Manfredo
Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade	Scully, Vincent
Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism	Stern, Robert A. M. et al.
Architecture of Truth	Cali, François et al.
The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens	Butler, A.S.G.
The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste	Scott, Geoffrey
The Architecture of Happiness	De Botton, Alain
The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times	Hitchcock, Henry-Russell
The Architecture of Community	Krier, Léon
The Architecture of Michelangelo	Ackerman, James S.
Architecture in Britain 1530–1830	Summerson, John
Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity	Trachtenberg, Marvin et al.
The Architecture of the City	Rossi, Aldo
Architecture: Choice or Fate	Krier, Léon
Architecture and Politics in Germany: 1918-1945	Lane, Barbara Miller
Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation	Vesely, Dalibor
Architectural Ornament	Brolin, Brent C.
An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles	Gebhard, David et al.
Architectonic Space	van der Laan, Hans
The Arcades Project	Benjamin, Walter
Apartments for the Affluent	Alpern, Andrew
Ant Farm	Scott, Felicity
Animal Architecture	von Frisch, Karl
Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design	Coulton, J. J.
American Buildings and Their Architects, vol. 5: The Impact of European Modernism in the Mid-twentieth Century	Jordy, William H.
American Architecture and Urbanism	Scully, Vincent
American Architecture	Kimball, Fiske
Alexander Girard	Oldham, Todd et al.
Albert Kahn: Architect of Ford	Bucci, Federico
Aircraft	Le Corbusier,
AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.)	White, Norval et al.
Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006–2009	Weiwei, Ai
Against Architecture	Hollier, Denis
Achille Castiglioni	Polano, Sergio

comments powered by Disqus

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.”

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.