Architecture & Architectural Design Books

The National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy all saw either radical architectural interventions or rethinks of their mission under Charles Saumarez Smith's leadership, making him uniquely qualified to …

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) set out to build for the future. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, the Berlin-born architect had an inestimable influence on our aesthetic environment, championing a bold new hybrid of light, geom…

In the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892-1970), inside and outside find their perfect modernist harmony. As the Californian sun glints off sleek building surfaces, vast glass panel walls allow panoramic views over mountains, ga…

Get to know Tadao Ando, the only architect to have won the discipline’s four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize. This succinct introduction explores Ando’s unique blend of calm Ja…

Designing private residences has its own very special challenges and nuances for the architect. The scale may be more modest than public projects, the technical fittings less complex than an industrial site, but the preferences, r…

Follow photographer Frederic Chaubin as he embarks on a unique, century-spanning journey through Europe. Featuring images of more than 200 buildings in 21 countries, Stone Age presents the history and architecture of the most dram…

German photographer Reinhart Wolf (1930-1988) had a particular eye for architecture. In 1979, he turned his lens to some of the tallest buildings in the world, taking several trips to New York to photograph its most sky-soaring as…

What makes a house truly beautiful? Why are many new houses so ugly? Why do we argue so bitterly about sofas and pictures - and can differences of taste ever be satisfactorily resolved?To answer these questions and many more, de B…

Paris is one of the artistic capitals of Europe. For centuries the city has produced, and been home to, countless artists and artistic movements. This volume helps you find the best examples of each period in the city's museums an…

The magnificent panorama of the Eternal City unfolds before the readers' eyes this richly illustrated guide. Even into the twentieth century, artists from every corner of the globe were magically drawn to Rome, which served as the…

If you take even the slightest interest in the design of your toothbrush, the history behind your washing machine, or the evolution of the telephone, you'll take an even greater interest in this completely updated edition of Indus…

The life of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely …

South of the border, rich colors and woven textiles form a unique design aesthetic, crafted by the union of local Aztec and Mayan cultures and Spanish influences. Bold pigments and vivid patterns come together in simple and rustic…

Under the burning Tuscan sun roll marvelous hills, vineyards, and olive groves-all postcard-perfect landscapes nestling centuries-old towns, rural villas, and contadino farmhouses. We've tracked down the best examples of such have…

The Case Study House program (1945-1966) was a unique event in the history of American architecture. Sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, the program sought to respond to the postwar building boom with prototype modern h…

The life of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely …

A building by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is at once unmistakably individual, and evocative of an entire era. Notable for their exceptional understanding of an organic environment, as well as for their use of steel and glass to…

French-born Jean Prouve (1901-1984) was the 20th century's leading construction designer, a self-declared constructeur and member of the jury who oversaw the design of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. As a designer, he captured the m…

Spanish visionary Santiago Calatrava is renowned around the world as an architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and artist. Famed for bridges as much as buildings, he has made his name with neofuturistic structures that combine …

Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891-1979) is difficult to pin down. With an extraordinarily prolific output and eclectic style, his oeuvre remains one of the most diverse and groundbreaking in design history. Trained in…

While some architects have a signature style, Renzo Piano seeks to apply coherent ideas to extraordinarily different projects. His buildings impress as much for their individual impact as for their diversity of scale, material, an…

From the towering Sagrada Familia to the shimmering, textured facade of Casa Batllo and the enchanting landscape of Park Guell, it's easy to see why Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) gained the epithet "God's architect." With fluid forms a…

Zaha Hadid was a revolutionary architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite winning critical acclaim. Some even said her audacious, futuristic designs were unbuildable. During the latter years of her life, Hadid's d…

Acclaimed as the "father of skyscrapers," the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and ap…

The architecture of the 20th century is distinguished by an astonishing diversity. Just as the clash of aesthetic and commercial ambitions nevertheless produced many a happy symbiosis, so the purist and the expressive, the monumen…