Coffee table tomes: 10 books for architecture and design lovers
Your gift lists made easy
Even in the Kindle and iPad era, nothing quite beats the look, feel and smell of a brand new book. Get your hands on these titles and head off on a visual odyssey. Or give the gift of armchair travel to your friends…
Phaidon; £39.95 Crossing religious divides and geography, Sacred Spaces by writer James Pallister showcases 30 modern spiritual structures, from cathedrals to mosques, cemeteries to memorials, designed by established architects and up-and-coming practices. Photography: Rosella DegoriSacred SpacesSacred SpacesSacred SpacesSacred SpacesModernist Estates: the buildings and people who live in them, by Steffi Orazi
Frances Lincoln; £25 Concrete: you either love it or loathe it. Graphic designer and blogger Steffi Oraz belongs firmly to the former camp. In Modernist Estates, Orazi takes a look inside some of the UK’s most iconic (and controversial) Modernist housing estates, including the Barbican, Isokon, Balfron Tower and Park Hill, and lifts the lid on what they’re really like to live in. We spoke to her about her passion for Modernism back in September. Photography: Rosella DegoriModernist EstatesModernist EstatesModernist EstatesPenn Station, New York, by Louis Stettner and Adam Gopnik
Thames & Hudson; $50
Once one of the world’s busiest transport interchanges, Penn Station has taken on a mythological status since its demolition in 1963 to make way for the much-maligned entertainment venue Madison Square Gardens. This collection of photographs, shot by Stettner in the 1950s, captures not only the lost architecture of Penn Station, but also the people who brought it to life, from commuters and train guards to blue-collar workers and New York’s burgeoning office-class. Photography: Rosella DegoriLouis StettnerLouis StettnerLouis StettnerAn Era Without Memory: Chinese Contemporary Photography, by Jiang Jiehong
Thames & Hudson; £29.95
China’s emergence as a global superpower coincided with its rapid urbanisation, as well as exponential changes in the country’s architectural and social landscape. Here, Jiang Jiehong reflects on China’s transformation over the last few decades, bringing together images by some of the country’s top art photographers documenting the erasure of tradition and the past in favour of modernity in the form of glass and steel. Photography: Rosella DegoriEra without MemoryEra Without MemoryEra Without MemoryTheaster Gates, by Lisa Lee, Carol Becker, Achim Borchardt-Hume and Theaster Gates
Phaidon; £29.95 Theaster Gates is a key protagonist among a growing breed of artists whose work melds architecture, sculpture, urban planning and performance. This year alone, he has opened the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago and masterminded a program of sonic novelties inside a bombed-out church in Bristol. This first monograph on the artist is well overdue. It comprises essays by the man himself, as well as a survey of his work by Lisa Lee. Photography: Rosella DegoriTheaster GatesTheaster GatesTheaster GatesTheaster GatesJutaku: Japanese Houses, by Naomi Pollock
Phaidon; £14.95
Like the houses it documents, Jutaku: Japanese Houses is diminutive in size but intelligently considered. 400 structures – one per page, one image per house – offers a snapshot of contemporary Japanese residential architecture, including homes by the country’s best known architects (Shigeru Ban, Sou Foujimoto and Kengo Kuma) as well as architects cutting their teeth in Japan’s innovative and forward-thinking urban architectural scene. Photography: Rosella DegoriJutaku: Japanese Houses: OBI-House by Tetsushi Tominaga (2013) in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Photography: Ken’ichi Suzuki.Jukatu: Japanese HousesJutaku: Japanese Houses: Reflection of Mineral by Atelier Tekuto, (2006) in Nakano-ku, Tokyo.Jutaku: Japanese Houses: Double Skin House by Studio NOA (2011) in Shinjuku-ku, TokyoSoviet Bus Stops, by Christopher Herwig
Fuel; £19.95 For an entire generation of architects working under the political oppression of the Soviet Union, the ubiquitous bus stop became an unlikely playground for creative expression. Photographer Chris Herwig spent nearly a decade documenting these weird, wacky, and often subtly nationalistic structures, compiled for the first time in this volume by Fuel. Read our interview with Herwig. Photography: Rosella DegoriSoviet Bus StopsSoviet Bus StopsSoviet Bus StopsNightswimming: Discotheques from the 1960s to the Present, by Chiara Carpenter & Giovanna Silva
Bedford Press; £15 With exhibitions at the ICA and Serena Morton Gallery, it seems Disco is having a moment (in London at least). Nightswimming by Giovanna Silva and Chiara Carpenter looks at the interior spaces of Europe’s discotheques themselves: from futuristic ‘space race’-inspired dance halls to mock-classical ballrooms, the pair go beyond the mirrorball and explore the nuances of disco design from the 1960s to present day. The book was designed by Wayne Daly. Photography: Rosella DegoriNightswimmingNightswimmingNightswimmingCabin Porn: Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere, by Zach Klein and Steven Leckart
Particular Books / Penguin Press; $19 We’ve all dreamed of giving up the rat race for the simple life. Some of us actually do it – part time at least. Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein started his Cabin Porn blog as a visual inspiration for the cabin he and his friends were building in upstate New York six years ago, and it quickly developed a cult following. From 12,000 cabins submitted to the site, this compendium brings together 200 of the best homemade homes around the world. Here’s a sneak peek at 5… Photography: Rosella DegoriCabin Porn: Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere, by Zach Klein and Steven Leckart
Particular Books / Penguin Press; $19 We’ve all dreamed of giving up the rat race for the simple life. Some of us actually do it – part time at least. Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein started his Cabin Porn blog as a visual inspiration for the cabin he and his friends were building in upstate New York six years ago, and it quickly developed a cult following. From 12,000 cabins submitted to the site, this compendium brings together 200 of the best homemade homes around the world. Here’s a sneak peek at 5… Photography: Rosella DegoriCabin PornGreenterior: Plant loving creatives and their homes, by Bart Kiggen and Magali Elali
Luster; €39.95
Kofeeklatch interiors blog founders Bart Kiggen and Magali Elali visited 18 Belgian creatives in their homes, from Antwerp to New York, for this rich collection of interiors. As well as offering visual eye-candy, the pair talk to furniture designers Muller van Severen, fashion designer Christian Wijnants and textile artist Shabd Simon-Alexander about their passion for plants and how they use them in their home. Photography: Rosella DegoriGreenteriorsGreenteriors1 of 41
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