Bookshelf

10 x 10_2: 100 Architects 10 Critics
By Zaha Hadid, Deyan Sudjic, et al.
Designed by Julia Hasting
Phaidon Press, 468 pp., $75.00
In the sequel to Phaidon’s popular 10 x 10 tome (where ten critics picked ten emerging architects), this new book introduces another volume of outstanding work from 100 designers worldwide. The notable critics here include Zaha Hadid; Toshiko Mori, chair of the architecture department of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; Miquel Adrià, editor of Mexico City-based Arquine magazine; and Deyan Sudjic, founding editor of Blueprint and former editor in chief of Domus. The elegant book—designed by Julia Hasting, Phaidon’s design director—presents an impressive geographic and generational overview of emerging practices.

Brooklyn: New Style
Written and edited by Liz Farrelly
Art-directed and designed
by Martin Perrin
Booth-Clibborn Editions, 248 pp., $45.00
Brooklyn’s design community—those individuals and firms that have left Manhattan in search of cheaper rents and an alternative creative culture—is laid out in this book by zip code, from Greenpoint to Gowanus. Samples of work from the New York outpost of Dutch graphic design firm COMA, product designs by Jason Miller, industrial designs by Klaus Rosburg, paintings by the Barnstormers, and projects by architectural firm Freecell, among others, make it clear that this borough has too much design activity to by defined by any specific style. The book includes the CD of A Soundtrack for Brooklyn, by Mike Skinner. Graham MacIndoe’s location photography—biased toward industrial Brooklyn—is a highlight.

The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture
By Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne
Designed by Paul Carlos and Urshula Barbour of Pure+Applied
Princeton Architectural Press, 192 pp., $45.00
According to the authors of this smart international survey of 29 residential projects, the eco-friendly contemporary house has come a long way from the clunky structures of the 1960s and ’70s. Stang and Hawthorne go so far as to posit the emergence of a new architecture—one both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally conscious. The book features work from a roster of high-profile designers, including Rick Joy, Steven Holl, Will Bruder, Pugh+ Scarpa, Shigeru Ban, and William McDonough. Pure + Applied’s clean, understated format creates an elegant and informative backdrop for an array of important projects.

Art and the Power of Placement
By Victoria Newhouse
Designed by William Loccisano/Pandiscio Co.
The Monacelli Press, 303 pp., $50.00
Newhouse considers how peoples’ experience of art affects their understanding of it. The author guides the reader up staircases, through interiors, and past textured walls, analyzing how structure and detailing provide suggestive contexts, how placement affects perception, and how displays define the objects they enclose. Her theories are illustrated with examples of art from a range of periods on exhibit at a host of institutions, including MoMA (prior to Taniguchi’s renovation). Most notable is chapter three, where Newhouse dissects exhibitions of Jackson Pollock’s work held during the last half century at museums and galleries worldwide.

Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius
By Nikolaus Pevsner
Designed by Michael Whitehead, Bridgewater Design
Yale University Press, 192 pp., $40.00
Pevsner’s examination of Modernism’s origins has been one of the most studied books on Modern design. This expanded fourth edition presents the original text, along with full-color illustrations and photographs, updated biographical information on major figures in the movement, relevant short essays, a critique of his theories from a contemporary perspective, examples of Modernist works from after 1914—when the original study concluded—and a detailed account of Pevsner’s life and career.

The Landmarks of New York: An Illustrated Record of the City’s Historic Buildings
By Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel
Designed by Pentagram
The Monacelli Press, 628 pp., $65.00
On April 19, 1965, Mayor Robert F. Wagner signed legislation establishing the New York Landmarks Commission. This book documents more than 1,000 buildings, sites, districts, interiors, and even lampposts, recounting a brief history of each. The list begins with the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House; built before 1641 in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, it’s the oldest building in New York State as well as one of the oldest wooden structures in the country.