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

Creation is a Patient Search (L’atelier de la recherche patiente) Le Corbusier On Steven Holl’s Book List On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Critic Writes: Essays by Reyner Banham Reyner Banham On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Critical Path R. Buckminster Fuller On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Curves of Time Oscar Niemeyer On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	David Adler: The Architect and His Work Richard Pratt On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Delirious New York Rem Koolhaas On Terence Riley’s Book List On Adam Tihany’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Jeanne Gang’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List On Phil Patton’s Current Reading list On Aric Chen’s Book List On Michael Rock’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Activism Alastair Fuad-Luke On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object John Thackara On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Design Like You Give a Damn Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity, eds. On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On list of Books by Kate Stohr Add to My Reading List	Design with Climate Victor Olgyay On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design with Nature Ian McHarg On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Details of Modern Architecture Edward R. Ford On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Devil in the White City Erik Larson On Galia Solomonoff’s Current Reading list On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dialogues Paul Valéry On Juhani Pallasmaa’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini’s Visit to France Paul Fréart de Chantelou On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Differences Ignasi Solà-Morales Rubió On Neil Denari’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Digital Water Pavilion Carlo Ratti On list of Books by Carlo Ratti Add to My Reading List	Disappearing Architecture Georg Flachbart et al. On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Donald Judd: Raume Spaces Donald Judd et al. On Ronan Bouroullec’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods Vincent Scully On Norman Foster’s Book List On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Edifice Complex Deyan Sudjic On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Edifices de Rome Moderne Paul Letarouilly On Michael Graves’s Book List On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Education of an Architect John Hejduk On Kent Kleinman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen et al. On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On list of Books by Alexandra Lange Add to My Reading List
Eileen Gray Peter Adam On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eléments et théorie de l’architecture Julien Guadet On Cesar Pelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Eliot Noyes Gordon Bruce On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On Jeffrey Bernett’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Emotionally Durable Design John Chapman On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Engineer Imagines Peter Rice On Jeanne Gang’s Book List Add to My Reading List	English Country Houses Christopher Hussey On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The English House Hermann Muthesius On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Esperienza dell’Architettura Ernesto Rogers On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Essays in Architectural Criticism Alan Colquhoun On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright et al. On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Essential Le Corbusier: L’Esprit Nouveau Articles Le Corbusier On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Experiencing Architecture Steen Eiler Rasmussen On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On Maya Lin’s Book List On Carl Magnusson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses Juhani Pallasmaa On list of Books by Juhani Pallasmaa On Peter Bohlin’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in Europe Miriam F. Stimpson On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	File Under Architecture Herbert Muschamp On Véronique Vienne’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture Carl E. Schorske On Abbott Miller’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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