David Morton, who has overseen Rizzoli's architecture program since he joined the publishing company in 1987, has been appointed to the newly created position of associate publisher, architecture. But the longtime design editor demurs when congratulated on the news. "I don't think it's that much different from before," he says, noting that his job will be pretty much what it has been for many years: "I basically do the acquiring."
And in that task, Morton, who was an editor at Progressive Architecture magazine for more than a decade before joining Rizzoli, has been highly successful. The books he has been involved with?which have covered prominent contemporary architects, important historical figures, and design movements and other scholarly subjects?have won 21 awards from the American Institute of Architects, putting Rizzoli ahead of all other architectural publishers in that regard. In 2006, Morton was the second recipient of the $25,000 Henry Hope Reed Award, given in conjunction with the annual Richard H. Driehaus Prize, for his contributions to the promotion of classical art and architecture.
The newly anointed publisher is working simultaneously on several titles that showcase the scope of his, and Rizzoli's, interests. "We're doing a book?a very big book, almost like an encyclopedia?on the history of building in America," he says, adding that there are also books about Frank Gehry's house designs, Arts and Crafts designer and architect Baillie Scott, modern houses in Brazil, and the fifth volume of architecture by Richard Meier in the pipeline.
In other words: It's business as usual for David Morton.
