11 books to read these holidays

This book collects a series of texts by the Dutch architect, almost all unpublished in Italian, dividing them into thematic sections: definitions, autobiographical texts, portraits of cities, glances towards the future. Edited by Manuel Orazi, the book tells us about the uneven and immoderate development of the contemporary metropolis, with its apparently anarchic urban planning, which disturbs and questions our deepest values, or at least the most sentimental ones.

Written by Orietta Lanzarini, an architectural historian, the book is an analysis of four museums built between the 1940s and 1960s and designed by some of the most innovative Italian architects of the 20th century: Franco Albini, BBPR, Lina Bo Bardi, and Carlo Scarpa. Despite approaches and strategies, the case studies show how all of these architects’ projects sought to achieve two common goals: to make art education accessible to all and to highlight the value of history in the construction of the present.

There are many contradictory black and white images of Rome that Ludovico Quaroni has collected around the Eternal City: the explosion of consumer society interfaces with the Eternal City, the Baroque coexists with the shacks. And then the fountains of Rome and the banks of the Tiber, Franco Albin’s Rinascente and Castel Sant’Angelo, EUR and the Vatican, up to the market in Piazza Vittorio and the Appia Antica. Layers of civilizations that intertwine, in a book born as an act of love for the architect’s hometown.

After London and New York, the architect and designer Matteo Pericoli has decided to focus his attention on the city where he was born, reinterpreting its symbolic places: from the eternal facade of the Duomo to Piazza Gae Aulenti. Pericoli depicts these spaces on a long strip of paper, folded and detailed like a treasure map, full of clues to rediscover everyday places that are too often taken for granted.

The Masterplan is the first narrative work by architect Reinier de Graaf, a tale that, timing the trajectory of an architect yearning for recognition, unfolds as a fictional reconstruction of an architectural dream blown to dust by larger forces. A story that, using the personal life of the protagonist as a device, speaks to us of important themes: the struggle of an emerging nation with colonial remnants, the growing Chinese influence in Africa and the workings of the global real estate market.

Written by Paris-based studio TVK on the occasion of the 17th International Architecture Biennale in Venice, the book explores five situations exploring the fundamental conditions underpinning today's infrastructure, paving the way for new architectural fictions. Beginning the narrative from the dawn of humanity, when our planet was profoundly affected by the steady and exponential increase in the world's population, the architects address the now inextricable link between the earth and architecture.

Connettoma recounts the connections that are activated in the design work of Michele De Lucchi’s studio, which from 2019 takes the name AMDL CIRCLE. In an evocative photographic sequence, the book retraces the most significant achievements of the studio, juxtaposed so as to make visible what the designer calls the “synapses of architecture”, or the associations of emotions, memories and thoughts that stimulate new creativity. The images, which encompass more than 20 years of activity, reveal a way of thinking about architecture and design in the light of a multidisciplinary approach to the future.

Representing about 10% of the land mass of planet Earth, Antarctica is a Global Commons that we collectively overlook. Far from being a pristine natural landscape, the continent is a contested territory that hides resources that could prove irresistible in a world with an ever-growing population. Antarctic Resolution-published to mark the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica-offers a portrait of an overexploited but neglected continent in a holistic study of the continent's unique geography, unparalleled scientific potential, contemporary geopolitical importance, experimental governance system, and extreme housing pattern.

Fulvio Irace, Matteo Vercelloni and Demetrio Paparoni have been entrusted by Libri Scheiwiller with the editing of the first three volumes, focused respectively on architecture, design and artists. In this volume Irace reflects together with fourteen of the most influential authors on the international scene on the developments of an art that by its nature is based on the physicality of space and the notion of social sharing. Discussing with the author are Renzo Piano, Mario Botta, Emilio Ambasz, David Chipperfield, Steven Holl, Kazuyo Sejima, Grafton Architects, Francis Kéré, Barclay & Crousse, Bijoy Jain, Charles Renfro, Benedetta Tagliabue, Odile Decq, Tadao Ando.

Three regional territories are reimagined in 2100 by taking multiple water-based threats and opportunities as a starting point. Widening river beds, establishing spatial corridors to buffer peak water flows, replenishing aquifers through the use of new reservoirs, storing water to counter drought periods, making room for river-sea interaction, and accommodating rising sea water levels are all strategies for shaping a more resilient Veneto.

A handbook, edited by Andrea Fogliani, that investigates the latest in container module design, for small houses but not only. This unique compendium, full of design ideas, presents a large collection of case studies from around the world. Adapted to the specific needs and tastes of individual clients, these ingenious residential and commercial solutions provide practical, innovative, and surprising ideas for a variety of design needs.