2008

phaidon press: a spectacular visual biography of the life and work of the father of modern architecture. weighing in at 20 pounds, this massive book is packed with 2,000 images and documents, many rare or previously unpublished. drawing on an array of archival materials, this sumptuous volume depicts not only the vast and varied output of le corbusier, but also the major events, people, and forces that shaped the life of a man who continues to fascinate those in and outside the architectural world.

2002

phaidon: asymptote presents a seamless trajectory of projects organized in a non-linear fashion and illustrated with installation photographs, collaged photographs, and computer-generated diagrams and environments. the projects are punctuated with descriptive text and the speculative writing for which asymptote is known. both partners combine architectural practice with teaching and this is strikingly evident in the accessible and thought-provoking result of asymptote.

2009

aacdu : emergent s impressive command of variable structures, envelopes and forms according to peter zellner in his introduction offers up a genuine route away from the shimmering imagery of the computer screen and points towards an authoritative demonstration of an architecture grounded in new building techniques. this ambitious claim is supported throughout this publication with survey of 21 works and projects, reproduced here in full colour and accompanied by plans, details, computer models and texts. among the designs featured here, many unrealised, are the cheonga city tower in incheon, korea; the freshwater and emerald plazas, uae; sundsvall arts theater, sweden; the mersey observation deck, liverpool; their dragonfly design for sci-arc, los angeles; the czech national library, prague and the urban beach for moma/p.s.1, new york.

2008

huazhong university of science and technology press: creating projects that look a whole lot less like conventional architecture than something out of the ridley scott’s film alien’ or the creative output of h.r.giger, hda’s architecture has stolen the imagination of a younger generation of architects around the world. twenty two mostly unrealised works often in the form of competition entries or research projects are examined here, including; maison seroussi, paris; art hotel, playa grande; u2 tower, dublin, and ps1 moma. all are extensively documented with full-colour computer models, sections and details, and accompanied by several exploratory essays.

2009

taschen: born in baghdad, iraq and educated in london, where her practice is based, hadid has been shaking up the foundations of architecture for over 30 years and is now the subject of a massive taschen monograph. covering her complete works to date, and all of her exciting new work from dubai to guangzhou, this xl tome clearly demonstrates the progression of hadid s career including not only buildings but also furniture and interior designs with in-depth texts, spectacular photos, and her own drawings. also included is a special section with translucent vellum paper allowing multiple layers of designs to be viewed at once or separately.

ongoing

el croquis is a beautiful large format publication with each issue dedicated to an architect. one of the best sources for detailed documentation of contemporary projects. each issue filled with crisp line drawings and vivid photographs of built work and working models. recent issues include sanaa, herzog + demeuron, zaha hadid.

2003-ongoing

each book focuses on one architect and includes drawings, sketches, photographs as well as brief biography, project descriptions, introductory essays, and project map. These affordable books are compact samplers of some of the twentieth century’s greatest architetcs. Volumes of notice include albert frey, marcel breur, antonio gaudi, walter gropius, adolf loos, richard neutra, jean prouve, and r.m. schindler.

2009

rizzoli: one of the few truly visionary architects of large-scale commissions working today, thom mayne’s influential firm morphosis, founded in the early 1970s, has maintained an avant-garde presence among contemporary architecture firms, even as it has garnered high-profile, big-budget commissions from around the world.

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2006

rizzoli: perhaps more than any other architect practicing today, peter eisenman has made a career out of devising a dialectic of oppositions in architecture. with references to societal alienation and existing architectural forms, his work derives much from friedrich nietzsche, noam chomsky, and jacques derrida. he led the loosely knit group of architects known as “the new york five” (which included john hejduk, michael graves, charles gwathmey, and richard meier), who made an effort to introduce a theory and artistry of modernist architecture as rigorous as that of the european avant-garde. this is the first comprehensive single-volume overview ever published on eisenman’s buildings and projects, from his first work, house i (1960), to his most recent projects, currently under construction in spain and germany. the book includes all the projects eisenman has created, with essays from international architects and critics, including greg lynn, sanford kwinter, and stan allen.

2006

catalytic formations documents ali RAHIM’S work and thoughts through 2003. beautiful line drawings and stark white renderings fill the pages. interspersed are essays by rahim on technique, technology, affects, and feedback loops. work by greg lynn, zaha hadid, kol/mac, nox, and cecil balmond is used throughout to illustrate the ideas found in the texts.