Joseph Grima
Rizzoli International Publications /$40.00
In Instant Asia, Joseph Grima and photographer Gaia Cambiaggi capture the continent’s up-and-coming architects and their work.
Scott Gibson & David Johnston
The Taunton Press /$24.95
David Johnston and Scott Gibson’s Green from the Ground Up is a clear, comprehensive resource for architects and homeowners looking to build sustainably.
David Robson
Thames & Hudson /$75.00
Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa is considered the pioneer of tropical modernism. David Robson's new book, Beyond Bawa: Modern Masterworks of Monsoon Asia, charts his life, work, and continuing influence on contemporary South Asian architecture.
Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry
Chronicle Books /$16.95
The makers of Method cleaning products have compiled a how-to guide for detoxing your home, advocating the replacement of chemical products for earth-friendly options. Squeaky Green authors Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry provide a room-by-room breakdown of potential eco-infractions with green solutions for each.
Christopher Bradley-Hole
The Monacelli Press /$45
For Making the Modern Garden, award-winning landscape architect Christopher Bradley-Hole traveled to contemporary gardens around the world. Lushly illustrated, the book celebrates our greenest spaces, and the process of their design.
Todd Oldham
American Modern Books /$200
Designer Todd Oldham worked closely with Charley Harper to create this retrospective entitled “Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life.” Harper, who defines himself as a minimal realist, has produced his whimsical, brightly colored illustrations since the 1940s. Oldham follows the book’s publication with a line of plates and trays inspired by the artist’s distinctive style.
Robert Klanten, Lukas Feireiss
Die Gestalten Verlag /$44.10
Playing on both the job of designers—to craft space— and the beautiful and bizarre pods that have cropped up on desert-scapes and rooftops alike, Space Craft examines the frontier of experimental building. While all of the projects push boundaries in some way, the remote locales are less startling than the parasitic architecture that breaks up city roofscapes. The book is divided into sections: Off Track, Modular, Over the Top, Shantytown, and Showtime, and features everyone from starchitects like Diller Scofidio + Renfro to Graffiti Research Lab. At their best, the projects in Space Craft are playful, beautiful structures that stand out from their surroundings like a rover on the moon.
Alessandro Rocca
Princeton Architectural Press /$35
With Alessandro Rocca’s new book, Natural Architecture, green design returns to its roots. Olafur Eliasson, N Architects, Patrick Dougherty, Edward Ng, and Nils-Udo, among others, work with the landscape, its raw materials, and their own hands to build site-specific installations. From stone, straw, pebbles, and branches come structures of tremendous grace and innovation—a cathedral of willows, a 3300-square-foot bamboo canopy, and a pavilion roofed by perpetually frozen water.
Christian Werthmann
Princeton Architectural Press /$45
The benefits of green roofs are now commonly accepted: improved insulation against sound and weather and longer roof lifespan. Not to mention reducing carbon dioxide. To demonstrate these benefits, and showcase the possibilities of green roofs as habitable outdoor spaces, the American Society of Landscape Architects hired Michael Van Valkenburgh, a landscape architect, to design a green roof garden for its Washington headquarters. This book documents the process.
Stephen Bayley and Terence Conran
Firefly Books /$49.95
Design: Intelligence Made Visible provides a broad survey of people and products affecting design culture from the 20th century to today. Not only is the book visually engaging, but its witty prose was fashioned by two of the design world’s most powerful presences: Stephen Bayley, a corporate design consultant and cultural commentator; and Terence Conran, the creative force behind The Conran Shop and a London-based design practice. Together, they deliver a history lesson that connoisseurs and laymen alike can enjoy.
