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

The Invention of Tradition Eric Hobsbawm et al. On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Isambard Kingdom Brunel L. T. C. Rolt On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Italian Splendor Jack Basehart On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Italy: The New Domestic Landscape Emilio Ambasz, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List On list of Books by Emilio Ambasz On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Japanese Houses Today Iwao Yamawaki On William Georgis’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 1 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 2 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 3 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Joe Colombo Mateo Kries et al. On Michael Maharam’s Book List On Glenn Pushelberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Journeys: How Travelling Fruit, Ideas and Buildings Rearrange our Environment Giovanna Borasi, ed. On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, Sanaa Works 1995–2003 Kazuyo Sejima et al. On Aldo Bakker’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings Louis Sullivan On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	La Maison de Verre: Pierre Chareau’s Modernist Masterwork Dominique Vellay On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	La Nueva Villa Getty Jorge Silvetti et al. On list of Books by Jorge Silvetti Add to My Reading List	La Prima Architettura Barocca (The First Baroque Architecture) Cesare Brandi On Ada Tolla’s Book List On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List Add to My Reading List	La Villa Kérylos Vian des Rives On David Easton’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Language of Post-Modern Architecture Charles Jencks On Alberto Alessi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	L’Architecture Claude-Nicolas Ledoux On William Georgis’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Le Corbusier: A Life Nicholas Fox Weber On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On Carl Magnusson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Le Modulor Le Corbusier On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Learning from Las Vegas Robert Venturi et al. On Michael Bierut’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On Ellen Lupton’s Book List On list of Books by Denise Scott Brown On list of Books by Robert Venturi On Rudy VanderLans’s Book List On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Le Corbusier: Oeuvre Complète (Complete Works) Willy Boesiger, ed. On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List On Norman Foster’s Book List On William Georgis’s Book List On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List On Cesar Pelli’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, 2nd edition (Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture) Claude Perrault On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Letters to Clients Frank Lloyd Wright On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Libraries Candida Hofer et al. On Sou Fujimoto’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Life and Work of John Nash, Architect John Summerson On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Light is the Theme Louis Kahn On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Lina Bo Bardi Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi On Jeanne Gang’s Book List On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies Reyner Banham On Norman Foster’s Book List On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students Louis I. Kahn On Peter Bohlin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Louis Kahn: On the Thoughtful Making of Spaces Michael Merrill Add to My Reading List	The Manhattan Transcripts Bernard Tschumi On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright Brendan Gill On Nancye Green’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mask of Medusa John Hejduk On Neil Denari’s Book List On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mastering Tradition: The Residential Architecture of John Russell Pope James B. Garrison On Ernest de la Torre’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays Colin Rowe On Michael Graves’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List On Terence Riley’s Book List On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Jorge Silvetti’s Book List On Greg Lynn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mechanization Takes Command Sigfried Giedion On Niels Diffrient’s Book List On George Tscherny’s Book List On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List On Greg Lynn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Megastructure Reyner Banham On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Miami Modern Metropolis Allan T. Shulman, ed. On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mies van de Rohe: Critical Essays Franz Schulze On Mels Crouwel’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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