A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

In 1939, Otto Neurath's  Modern Man in the Making was released by Alfred A. Knopf. Neurath was director of the International Foundation of Visual Information and used the Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) system to "teach through the eye."  A recent article describes Modern Man in the Making  as a "pictorial statistical history of human technological adaptation and social cooperation [that] addressed a modern audience searching for optimistic narratives amid an economically, politically, and socially volatile era." The book is a classic, and for someone like me who veers toward arguments made in a combination of words and images, it is a book I should probably have — at the very least, I should know more about it. Although it was released as a trade book, can be found cheaply in b/w reprints, and is freely available on the Internet Archive,  first editions of Modern Man in the Making  go for hundreds and thousands of dollars . Thi...

Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing Edited by Michael Merrill Lars Müller Publishers , October 2021 Hardcover | 9-1/2 x 11-3/4 inches | 512 pages | 919 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9783037786444 | $85.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : "The importance of a drawing is immense, because it’s the architect’s language." — Louis Kahn to his masterclass, 1967 Louis I. Kahn (1901–1974) was one of the most significant architects of the twentieth century and his influence is present today in ways both profound and subtle. Unlike previous publications on Kahn, which have focused on his built work and which considered the drawings foremost as illustrations of these, this is the first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. By offering a spectrum of close readings of drawings by Kahn and his associates in a series of incisive and richly illustrated essays, this book is at once an intimate artistic portrait of thi...

Are We Human? Notes on an Archaeology of Design by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley Lars Müller Publishers , January 2017 Paperback | 4-1/4 x 7 inches | 288 pages | 181 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9783037785119 | $20.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : The question Are We Human? is both urgent and ancient. Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley offer a multi-layered exploration of the intimate relationship between human and design and rethink the philosophy of design in a multi-dimensional exploration from the very first tools and ornaments to the constant buzz of social media. The average day involves the experience of thousands of layers of design that reach to outside space but also reach deep into our bodies and brains. Even the planet itself has been completely encrusted by design as a geological layer. There is no longer an outside to the world of design. Colomina’s and Wigley’s field notes offer an archaeology of the way design has gone viral and is now bigger than the world. The...

Antarctic Resolution Edited by Giulia Foscari / UNLESS Lars Müller Publishers , August 2021 Hardcover | 7-3/4 x 10-1/4 inches | 992 pages | 1,255 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9783037786406 | $80.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Accounting for approximately 10 % of the land mass of Planet Earth, the Antarctic is a Global Commons we collectively neglect. Far from being a pristine natural landscape, the continent is a contested territory which conceals resources that might prove irresistible in a world with an ever-increasing population. The 26 quadrillion tons of ice accumulated on its bedrock, equivalent to around 70 % of the fresh water on our planet, represent the most significant repository of scientific data available. It provides crucial information for future environmental policies, and, at the same time, is the greatest possible menace to global coastal settlements when sea levels rise because of global warming. On the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica, Anta...

Old Is New:  Architectural Works by New Material Research Laboratory Hiroshi Sugimoto and Tomoyuki Sakakida Lars Müller Publishers , May 2021 Hardcover | 6-3/4 x 9 inches | 400 pages | 202 illustrations | English (Heibonsha has published a Japanese edition ) | ISBN: 9783037786468 | 55€ PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : "The oldest things are the newest" – this paradoxical idea is present throughout the oeuvre of contemporary Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. In 2008, Sugimoto and the architect Tomoyuki Sakakida founded the New Material Research Laboratory, an architectural firm that researches and develops “new materials” from known materials and techniques by applying a different approach and interpretation. The Laboratory's aim is to rethink the use of old materials passed on to us from ancient times, the Middle Ages and the modern period. It advocates for a reconnection of the present with a bygone era, and to extend that connection to the future throu...

Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region Edited by Tatiana Bilbao, Nile Greenberg and Ayesha S. Ghosh, photography by Iwan Baan Yale School of Architecture/ Lars Müller Publishers , December 2020 Paperback | 6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches | 488 pages | 350 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9783037786086 | $40.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Under the direction of Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, thirteen architecture studios and students across the United States and Mexico undertook the monumental task of attempting to capture the complex and dynamic region of the US/Mexican border. Two Sides of the Border envisions the borderland through five themes: migration, housing and cities, creative industries, local production, tourism, and territorial economies. Building on a long-shared history in the region, the projects covered in this volume use design and architecture to address social, political, and ecological concerns along the shared border. Featuring essays, student projects, interv...