Martin Postler
The designer Martin Postler has investigated the history, the aesthetics and the lethal seductiveness of the Kalashnikov rifle. He has deconstructed the AK-47 into a paper model construction set. At the end of the construction process each person can decide if they would like to hang their own AK-47 on the wall, paint it, customize it with stickers or simply burn it. Die Gestalten Verlag. ISBN 9783899551983. Paper model. $52.
Barbara Levine & Kirsten Jensen
Traces the development of the travel photo album, from primarily narrative forms into rich multimedia objects of sublime beauty. Featuring a wealth of photographs and ephemera such as passports, ships’ menus, calling cards and newspaper clippings, Around the World evokes the pleasures of a time when travel was an art in and of itself. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781568987088. Hardback. $110.
Hanneke Kamphuls
Not just another book on architecture and design: Atmosphere invites, encourages and motivates. It goes beyond the basic components of form, colour and material to identify and explore seven atmospheric layers that can easily merge to form new combinations, over and over again. Jointly published with Frame. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 9783764383879. Hardback. $139.50.
Martin Nicholas Kunz
This updated volume of the successful ‘best designed wellness hotels’ series features a selection of outstanding aesthetic and beautiful places all over Europe. The book takes the reader into urban retreats in the centres of cities such as Paris and London as well as to remote resorts in the Alps and on the Mediterranean coasts. AVedition. ISBN 9783899860900. Hardback. $68.50.
Dave the Spazz (ed)
WFMU is considered the alternative radio station of the New York area and LCD, the station’s programme guide, is a wicked cocktail of satire, cultural news and provocative artworks. Collected here for the first time is the magazine’s best writing and artwork, including work by some of the superstars of the cultural underground. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781568987156. Paperback. $59.50.
Bruno Munari
First published in 1987, The Blackbird Has Lost His Beak was inspired by the rhythm and world of the famous Italian popular song. Bruno Munari first had the idea in the 1940s of making a book/game based on the song that teaches children to observe and learn and, if they want to, sing along. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 9788887942224. spiral. $56.50.
Marti Guixe
Marti Giuxe provides bright images on the page as a sort of sketch to inspire the creation of different stories. Like Corraini titles A Book of Lines and An Exhibition of Paintings, Blank Book focuses on the imagination and the active involvement of children and adults in the creation of a story. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 9788875701376. Paperback. $39.50.
Peter Zec
An introduction to the winners of this year’s Caravaning Design Award, the industry’s seal of quality awarded for high-grade innovation and design performances. Interested readers as well as designers and constructing engineers can gain an overview of the newest and most innovative developments in the caravaning industry. AVedition. ISBN 9783899390827. Hardback. $65.
Snohetta (eds)
Snoehetta, one of Scandinavia’s leading architecture practices, develops its architectures within a continuous state of reinvention. Their architecture is a self-referential art within the uncertainties generated by the influence of our contemporary society. Projects include the library of Alexandria, the new opera house in Oslo and the Ras al Khaima gateway. Lars Müller Publishers. ISBN 9783037781180. Hardback. $58.50.
Ralf Michel (ed)
A comprehensive survey of the field of design research. Essays, all by leading design scholars, stake out positions on the most important issues of design research. They locate the significance of design research at the interface with technological development and describe what makes it a necessary ingredient of the continued development of the design disciplines. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 9783764384715. Paperback. $165.
Urs Peter Flucklger
One of the most important exponents of minimal art, Donald Judd has exerted a lasting influence in the field of architecture, transforming a military fort in Marfa, Texas, into one of the largest ensembles of contemporary art. The Marfa buildings have for the first time been measured and drawn to scale, an invaluable source of inspiration for contemporary architecture. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 9783764375263. Hardback. $76.50.
Bruno Munari
A new title in Munari’s workshop series that focuses on the imagination and the active involvement of children and adults. Munari shows how the creation of floral arrangements is able to transmit a message through the silent expression of the plant and how this natural gesture relies on love and inventiveness. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 9788875701369. Paperback. $24.50.
Nanette Jackowski & Ricardo de Ostos
The London-based NaJa and deOstos architecture office was founded by Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos as a platform for experimental architecture. This project engages with the harrowing situation in Baghdad, reacting with the language of experimental architecture. Springer Verlag. ISBN 9783211488720. Paperback. $58.50.
IF International Forum Design (eds)
IF Yearbook Communication 2007 is an essential reference work for outstanding communication design. The contributions document the winning entries in the disciplines of digital media, print media, crossmedia, concepts communication for students and architecture and public space. Birkhäuser. ISBN 9783764383657. Hardback. $98.50.
Jones, Partners eds
For more than 15 years, Jones, Partners: Architecture has dedicated itself to innovative, iconoclastic architectural projects. Picking up where their 1998 book, Instrumental Form, left off, Jones, Partners: Architecture presents an overview of the work created from their office in El Segundo, California, over the last decade. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781568987002. Hardback. $110.
Andreas Schultz
With undogmatic and flexible solutions, the lighting design office Licht Kunst Licht develops lighting scenographies for museums, administrative and public buildings and private residences. This monograph presents recent major projects such as the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus in Berlin and the Uniqa Tower in Vienna. AVedition. ISBN 9783899860578. Hardback. $135.
Corrado Levi
Levi presents works of art by one hundred Italian artists of the 20th century with whom he has a close affinity or friendship. Each work is introduced by a short note and a few meaningful words to describe an idea or image. Not an art history book but a collection of clues and hints to enter Italian art through an unexpected point of view. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 978887570126. Paperback. $49.
John Roderick (ed)
In 1959 journalist John Roderick was given a 250-year-old minka, or hand-built farmhouse. His architectural memoir tells the compelling story of how one man fell in love with the people, culture and ancient building traditions of Japan, and reminds us all about the importance of craftsmanship and the meaning of place and home in the process. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781568987316. Hardback. $49.50.
Stefan Gandl & Christoph Grunberger
Over 2,000 editable and infinitely repeatable patterns from the makers of Neubau Welt. All of the work shown in this book can also be found as Adobe Illustrator and bitmap files on an included DVD. The DVD also contains the entire digital collection of patterns as a practical Swatch Library. Die Gestalten Verlag. ISBN 9783899551990. Hardback. $115.
Matevz Celik
In the economically flourishing state of Slovenia architecture production has developed with great optimism. This first overview of new Slovenian architecture documents 30 projects, all built over the last 10 years. The projects include administration and office buildings, as well as educational and residential buildings. Springer Verlag. ISBN 9783211714874. Hardback. $105.
Rick Poynor
This collection of essays by design critic Rick Poynor takes a searching look at visual culture to discover the reality beneath the ultra-seductive surfaces. Poynor explores the thinking behind the emerging resistance to commercial rhetoric among designers, and offers critical insights into the changing dialogue between advertising and design. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 9783764385002. Paperback. $35.
Bruno Munari
An original xerography is the result of an image which is moved on the plate glass of the copier so that it reproduces both the image and its movement, becoming not merely a copy but something original. Munari’s investigation into the artistic possibilities of copiers is as original and inventive as ever. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 9788875701345. Paperback. $24.50.
Peter Zec (ed)
All the winners of the Red Dot Award Communication Design 2007/8. In an impressive and informative way this book documents the most important trends in communication design, offering detailed portraits of the best works and their designers, and allows an insight behind the scenes of the red dot design award. AVedition. ISBN 9783899390896. Hardback. $170.
Frame Publishers (eds)
Showcases the hottest designs in spas and thermal baths, massage, hair and beauty salons, health farms and gyms. Each project has been selected for its beauty and the innovative concept behind its creation. In addition to works by well-known names such as Steven Holl and Jun Aoki, Relax includes interiors by promising young designers. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 9783764383923. Hardback. $115.
Olafur Eliasson & Kjetil Thorsen
The Serpentine Gallery commissioned Olafur Eliasson and architect Kjetil Thorsen to design its pavilion for 2007. The development and realisation of the pavilion is documented with extensive visual material as well as essays and a conversation between Olafur Eliasson, Kjetil Thorsen and the directors of the Serpentine Gallery. Lars Müller Publishers. ISBN 9783037781166. Hardback. $58.50.
Robert Klanten et al (eds)
A collection of new projects that are expanding the current understanding of architecture: flexible, fleeting structures that only exist for a limited time and spaces that are used temporarily. Whether vacation homes, urban hideouts, art projects, pavilions or studios, all of the included work is distinguished by a playful, unconventional use of space. Die Gestalten Verlag. ISBN 9783899551921. Hardback. $135.
Paul Luketz
Both a work of theory and a practical tool for suburban community planning, this book introduces the adaptive design process: a method that allows for the organic transformation of communities from siteless suburbs and edge cities into places with their own distinct identity and unique character. Paul Lukez is an assistant professor of Architecture at MIT. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 9781568986838. Paperback. $79.50.
Museum Ritter (eds)
The works of Russian sculptor Vadim Kosmatschof are concerned with one of today’s most pressing problems – how to sustain an ecological balance. His solar-powered sculptures can change shape and elicit a special dynamism from the interaction of the artwork and its surroundings, turning clean energy into the language of art. Springer Verlag. ISBN 9783211709726. Hardback. $55.
Bruno Munari
Following on from Munari’s investigation into the circle and the square in design, architecture and art, The Triangle is now the subject of his unique insight. From classical Arab and Japanese decorations to the contemporary architecture of Buckminster Fuller and Frank Lloyd Wright, the triangle generates curious and fascinating experimentations. Edizioni Corraini. ISBN 9788875701291. Paperback. $24.50.
Martin Krampen, et al
Martin Krampen, co-author of the now out-of-print standard work Sign Systems of Visual Communication presents a long overdue update. Includes a theoretical introduction to the semantics of static pictures and more recent animated pictures, as well as 1,200 pictographs, all shown as vector graphics and accompanied by a CD. AVedition. ISBN 9783899860863. Hardback. $90.
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