October reading list: five new-in architecture and design books

From a collaboration between Nathan Williams (founder of the magazine Kinfolk) and Jonas Bjerre Poulsen (from the studio Norm Architects), The Touch presents 25 interior designs – museums, hotels, shops, houses: examples, as the authors explain, “for their tactile component”. There are new (John Pawson and Bijoy Jain) and classic designs (like the Brion Cemetery by Carlo Scarpa, left).

In the comics of Paolo Bacilieri, architecture is often a support to the story itself. But with Tramezzino the real protagonists become the buildings of Modern Milan – Magistretti, Ponti, Caccia Dominioni – drawn with a personal touch and photographic precision.

In 176 pages, Ico Migliore gathers together approximately 100 of his sketches made in notebooks in A6 format. Divided into three main sections – sketches, views and maps – Drawings shows how the architect from Turin – founder of the studio Migliore + Servetto, former hockey player and student of Achille Castiglioni – uses drawing as an essential work instrument but also as a means to explore reality.

After the exhibition last year at the Vitra Design Museum, the rediscovery continues for Victor Papanek, a social design pioneer, with the re-issue of his seminal book Design for the Real World, after almost 50 years. Today, it is more relevant than ever, seeing the need for action due to climate change.

“White exists on the periphery of life. Bleached bones connect us to death, but the white of milk and eggs speaks to us of life,” says Kenya Hara who, with 100 Whites, continues his research. This Japanese graphic designer, who since 2002 is art director at Muji, presents 100 examples – from milk to clouds, rice to the snow in Iceland – and invites to reflect on this non-colour essential to design.