In this fast-paced world, it is difficult to find time to curl up by the fireplace or in a cozy nook to read. The holiday season offers as good of a chance as you may get to catch up on your reading list. Below, is a selection of design books that aim to inspire you and your precious little ones—and can make for great last-minute gifts for family, friends, and colleagues.
For Architects and Designers
Edge of Order by Daniel Libeskind (Clarkson Potter, 2018; $80)
This new release by New York–based architect Daniel Libeskind, FAIA, and design writer Tim McKeough, features 319 pages filled with Libeskind's notes, sketches, photographs, and plans, as well as behind-the-scene stories and inspirations for a selection of his projects, including the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, the Ogden Center for Fundamental Physics in Durham, England, and the extension to the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. “Far more than a monograph, [Edge of Order] is an essential document of Libeskind’s career, a masterful aesthetic collaboration—designed throughout by Rodrigo Corral—and an intimate portrait of art in action,” the publisher writes on its website. crownpublishing.com
Steven Holl: Seven Houses by Steven Holl (Rizzoli, 2018; $75)
Featuring seven houses designed by New York–based architect Steven Holl, FAIA, this book offers a close look into the architect's design process through Holl's own words, watercolor paintings, and more than 100 color photographs. The book includes “Luminist Architecture,” Holl's essay on the significance of light, spatial energy, and natural landscapes. “Despite their varying locations and scales, the houses are connected in their use of natural light, material, and detail. Viewed as a collection, the projects exemplify the luminist qualities of Holl’s work, inspired by the light of New York’s Hudson Valley,” according to the architect's website. rizzoliusa.com
Elements of Architecture by Rem Koolhaas (Taschen, 2018; $125)
Published in October, the 2,600-page Elements of Architecture by Rem Koolhaas, Hon. FAIA, features essays written by the Dutch architect, German architectural theorist Stephan Trüby, and Italian architect Manfredo di Robilant, and interviews with German architect and structural engineer Werner Sobek and American engineer Tony Fadell. A photo essay by German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans is also included in the book. “Architecture is a profession trained to put things together, not to take them apart,” writes Koolhaas in the book. Just like a collage, Koolhaas puts together architectural elements—that make up architecture—including floor, ceiling, façade, wall, window, door, corridor, and stair. Elements of Architecture is derived from Koolhaas’s exhibition of the same name at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. taschen.com
Hassan Fathy: Earth & Utopia by Salma Samar Damluji and Viola Bertini (Laurence King Publishing, 2018; £65.00; approximately $82)
Nearly 30 years after Hassan Fathy's passing, British-Iraqi architect Salma Samar Damluji and Italian architect Viola Bertini have co-authored a book focusing on the late Egyptian architect’s lifelong career in architecture. Hassan Fathy: Earth & Utopia is an “overdue” tribute to the architect, writes Samar Damluji, who worked with the architect back in the '70s and '80s, in the book’s introduction. Fathy, who is one of Egypt's most influential architects of the 20th century, is known for embracing vernacular, earthen architecture and traditional forms, techniques, and materials to “improve the conditions of Egypt’s rural poor,” the publisher writes on its website. “Earth & Utopia chronicles this lifelong commitment through personal interviews conducted by the author, photographs, and drawings from the Hassan Fathy archives, and Fathy’s own writings on the subject, many of which are published for the first time.” laurenceking.com
The Man in the Glass House by Mark Lamster (Little, Brown and Co., 2018; $35)
The Man In the Glass House by architectural critic, biographer, and former ARCHITECT contributor Mark Lamster is more than just a memoir of the late Pritzker Prize–winning architect Philip Johnson who is credited with introducing glass-and-steel architecture to the United States and mentoring generations of architects and artists, including Mies van der Rohe, Frank Gehry, FAIA, and Andy Warhol. This book is in fact a revelation of architect’s lesser-known side. “Johnson was a man of deep paradoxes,” Lamster writes on his website. “He was a fascist Nazi sympathizer who built synagogues and supported Israel, a genius without originality, an opportunist and a romantic, a populist and a snob. His last great client was Donald Trump.” littlebrown.com
Le Corbusier: The Built Work by Richard Pare, Jean-Louis Cohen (Monacelli Press, 2018; $125)
Featuring nearly 500 color photographs by English photographer Richard Pare and narrative by French architect, author, and architectural historian Jean-Louis Cohen, Le Corbusier: The Built Work is a photographic documentation of the late French-Swiss architect's extensive body of work. Capturing different views of each project, this book documents the current state of Le Cobusier's remaining architecture—including both recently renovated and abandoned projects—and their history. Featured projects include Notre Dame du Haut Chapel, Villa Savoye, and Sainte Marie de La Tourette in France; High Court in Chandigarh, India; and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. monacellipress.com
Inside North Korea by Oliver Wainwright (Taschen, 2018; $60)
Featuring 200 photographs from London-based Guardian architecture and design critic and photographer Oliver Wainwright, this book offers a rare look into notoriously isolated North Korea and its cinematic architecture. Largely rebuilt after the Korean War, starting in 1953, the Hermit Kingdom's architecture is truly a “socialist fairyland”—an official slogan of North Korea. It is Stalinist, Brutalist, monumental ... and surprisingly colorful. “My photographs are an attempt to offer a glimpse inside North Korea, revealing Pyongyang to be a place of candy-colored apartment buildings and pastel-hued interiors—a series of precisely composed stage sets that could be straight out of a Wes Anderson movie,” Wainwright said in a press release. taschen.com
Homes of Our Time: Contemporary Houses around the World by Philip Jodidio (Taschen, 2018; $70)
Homes of Our Time features a selection of contemporary houses designed by architecture firms MVRDV in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Desai Chia in New York, Japanese architects Shigeru Ban, Hon. FAIA, and Brazilian designer Marcio Kogan, among others. “These homes … are each remarkably distinct in design,” Taschen writes on its website. “They all, however, toe the line between inside and outside, each one symbiotic with its surroundings.” From the United States and Mexico to New Zealand, China, and Vietnam, the 456-page book shows what contemporary houses have in common regardless of geographical location. taschen.com
Living in Mexico by Barbara & René Stoeltie (Taschen, 2018; $20)
Featuring a selection of Mexican houses, ranging from architect Luis Barragán’s restored 16th-century hacienda to a traditional Mayan thatched-roof dwelling, this coffee table photography book by writer and photographer duo Barbara and René Stoeltie is filled with bright pictures of Mexican architecture, woven textiles, and crafts. “Bold pigments and vivid patterns come together in simple and rustic spaces, resulting in a way of living that is both invigorating and homely; an authentic Mexican style,” according to the publisher, on its website. taschen.com
The New York Times Explorer: Cities & Towns Edited by Barbara Ireland (Taschen, 2018; $40)
Edited by Barbara Ireland, this 304-page travel guide is part of the New York Times’ four-volume Explorer series. Cities & Towns features first-person narratives and color photographs that capture “the unique personality of the destinations.” From Lisbon’s cobblestoned streets in Portugal to Tokyo’s diverse neighborhoods, these narratives tell the stories of “urban centers and less-traveled towns, places where culture reigns and life is lived out loud,” according to the publisher. taschen.com
Drawing Architecture by Helen Thomas (Phaidon, 2018; $79.95)
Drawing Architecture by British architect Helen Thomas features a collection of more than 250 architectural drawings by Michelangelo, Lorenzo Bernini, Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Hon. FAIA, Tadao Ando, Hon. FAIA, Balkrishna Doshi, Hon. FAIA, Zaha Hadid, and Luis Barragán, among others. Spanning the centuries from antiquity to the present, this book highlights contrasts and similarities “between architecture from different times, styles, and places,” according to Phaidon's website. “Drawing Architecture is ideal for art and architecture lovers alike, as well as anyone interested in the intersection of creativity and history.“ phaidon.com
Radical Suburbs by Amanda Kolson Hurley (Belt Publishing, on pre-order; $15)
To be released in April 2019 (available to pre-order now), Radical Suburbs by journalist and former ARCHITECT executive and contributing editor Amanda Kolson Hurley takes readers on a tour of American suburbs that, according to Hurley, “reflect[s] counter-cultural or progressive values.“ In Radical Suburbs, Hurley argues that not all suburbia are and were in fact conventional middle-class neighborhoods. “There were poor people’s suburbs of self-built houses and chicken coops, industrial suburbs, and African-American and Latino suburbs. There were also radical suburbs: communities that sought to live according to their own, unorthodox values.“ By narrating the history of these communities, Hurley aims to make us re-evaluate our preconceptions about suburbia. beltpublishing.com
For Little Architects
Norman's Architecture Adventure by Josh Sanabria (GoArchitect, 2018; $14.99)
Inspired by a friend of the author, (one of the youngest female African-American architects in the United States), this book aims to “[challenge] gender and racial roles ... and change the narrative around diversity in all fields, not just architecture," according to its Kickstarter campaign. The book follows the story of Norman, a young boy who has a dream to become an architect, just like his mother. Featuring more than 30 illustrations by Sanabria, the book takes young readers on Norman's architecture adventure and encourages them to unleash their imagination. goarchitect.co
Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts (Abrams Books, 2018; $12.99)
This New York Times bestseller by author Andrea Beaty and illustrator David Roberts aims to intrigue young readers with design challenges, mysteries, and questions. The book follows the fictional story of Rosie—Beaty's character from Rosie Revere, Engineer (Abrams Books, 2013)—and her friends through an adventure of invention. Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters is a “spirited story about the power of teamwork and the true meaning of home,“ according to the publisher, on its website. abramsbooks.com
Baby's First Eames: The ABC's of Modern Architecture and Design by Julie Merberg and illustrated by Aki (Downtown Bookworks, 2018; $11.99)
This architecture-themed children's book features playful illustrations of select modern and iconic architecture, furniture, and decorative objects, including the Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe (for "M"), the Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen (for "T"), Sydney Opera House by Jørn Utzon (for "U"), and the Glass House by Philip Johnson (for "G" and "H"). dtbwpub.com
