Thinking conceptually, there’s not a lot separating the making of a book and the making of a building. They both start with an idea, they both require a great deal of time and energy to create, and the product is a physical object that you spend time inhabiting.
In each case, a single individual gets most of the credit, though a whole army is responsible for bringing it to fruition.
Maybe those similarities explain why architects have a tendency to covet books. That relationship is itself fuel for a — you guessed it — new book on architecture books, Buildings in Print: 100 Influential and Inspiring Illustrated Architecture Books, by John Hill (Prestel, $60).
Among those featured: A Field Guide to American Houses, the essential handbook by the late Dallas preservation advocate Virginia McAlester. Also included throughout are lists of favorite books by architects and critics (including this one). Most frequently cited among this group: critics Reyner Banham and Ada Louise Huxtable, along with the theorist and practitioners Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
Good options, all.
Details
Buildings in Print: 100 Influential and Inspiring Illustrated Architecture Books, by John Hill (Prestel, $60).
