With temperatures continuing to rise and ready to head to summer destinations, many will be looking for a good book for the beach or pool, or to read on the train or plane, in addition to their suitcases. Recently, we had already compiled a small list of novels, and even last year we did not hold back.

However, we have decided to give you another list of books for architects, or lovers of design and art in general: so if you are looking for some titles to keep you company during the holidays, read below or also take a look at our “old” posts. We are sure you will find the right book to expand your library.

Walking Through Walls: An Autobiography

Marina Abramović needs no introduction, but many may not have fully understood or appreciated her art, perhaps finding some of her performances excessive. Thanks to this autobiography, one can better understand her perspective, discovering what the artist had to face to perform her now legendary performances.

“The passage of time wavers, and I live ten minutes ahead of the rest of the world. I keep waiting for everyone to reach the end of these ten minutes they are wasting. ”

A must-read in one sitting.

The Architecture of Trees

Using nearly two decades of research, in 1982, Italian architects Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi wrote a true classic for green design: trees as silent forms of life that are too often treated as passive backgrounds. The book covers 212 tree species, drawn to a scale of 1:100, with and without leaves, accompanied by diagrams of shadow projections during the hours of the day and throughout the year. In 2018, a renewed edition was created with a new graphic design and appropriately revised: the text is aimed at professionals, architects, landscape architects, and designers, but also at anyone who feels the ancestral call of trees.

Prada Life. Characters, stories, behind-the-scenes of a cultural phenomenon

When it comes to art and fashion, the first name that comes to mind is Miuccia Prada.

Why? Because Prada is not just a group and a brand with big numbers, but it is the symbol of a conceptual style that has managed to overturn aesthetic canons, becoming a cultural phenomenon. “What you wear is what you present to the world, especially today, when human interactions are so quick. Fashion is an instant language “.

The Architecture of the City

Together with the Scientific Autobiography, it is a foundational text for much of the method in Italy and beyond. “The city, the subject of this book, is here understood as architecture. Speaking of architecture, I do not mean to refer only to the visible image of the city and the ensemble of its architectures; rather, I refer to architecture as construction. I refer to the construction of the city over time “.

Since the first publication of this book by Aldo Rossi, the concepts of locus, monument, and type have never left the disciplinary discussion, bringing the theme of form back to the center of the debate.

Love Architecture

Aphorisms and short stories make this work a summary of the figure of Gio Ponti: a life of Gio “pursued by fortune“. A true classic of architecture designed to be a “pocket-sized architecture“.

Featured image: Vittorio Maria Corcos, Reading by the Sea, circa 1910.