
In need of new reading for the new year? These recent books by Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty and alumni—published within the past six months and organized alphabetically by title—feature topics from Victorian architecture to geospatial mapping.
In Also Known As: Uncovering Representational Frameworks in Architecture, Art, and Digital Media (MIT Press, 2024), assistant professor of architecture Michelle Jaja Chang (MArch ’09) ponders relationships between objects and architecture. Drawing on design, media, computation, and art, this book employs texts and images to explore the social, material, and political impacts of architectural systems and design technology.
A contemporary architectural manual, The Architect’s Sourcebook: Dimensions and Files for Space Design (Birkhäuser, 2024), written by Stanley Chaillou (MArch ’19), presents a digital repository of typologies, from housing to work to leisure spaces, complete with explanatory texts, general dimensions and guidelines for 2D layouts, and downloadable CAD blocks.
Architecture.Research.Office. (DelMonico Books, 2024), edited by Stephen Cassell (MArch ’92), Kim Yao, and Adam Yarinsky, documents over thirty projects by the editors’ New York–based firm Architecture Research Office (ARO), recipient of the American Institute of Architects Firm Award in 2020. Founded in 1993, ARO is known for engaging, research-driven projects with a clean aesthetic, including the phased renewal of the Rothko Chapel and Campus (ongoing) in Houston; the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse (2018); and the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (2016) in New York City.
Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia (Applied Research + Design Publishing, 2024), by Evan Shieh (MAUD ’19), explores the latent and transformative impact autonomous vehicles will have on the urban and spatial future of cities. Employing representational techniques of graphic novels, the book explores our recent history of urban transportation and speculates on the typologies and policies that await us with a driverless mobility paradigm shift.

In “Modernism in Three Acts,” published in editor Léa Namer’s Chacarita Moderna: La Nécropole Brutaliste de Buenos Aires (Building Books, 2024), associate professor of architecture Ana María León (MDes ’01) draws on archival documents held at the Special Collections of Frances Loeb Library to explore the architectural context in which Argentine architect Ítala Fulvia Villa designed the monumental Sexto Panteón (Sixth Pantheon) at the Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Juxtaposing an essay by Mohsen Mostafavi, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design and Harvard University Distinguished Professor, with one written decades prior by the German art historian Max Raphael (1889–1952), The Color Black: Antinomies of a Color in Architecture and Art (Mack Books, 2024) expounds on the relationship between architecture, art, and the color black. Commentary by Swiss architect Peter Märkli and American artist Theaster Gates, along with a broad range of illustrations, offer additional thoughts on contemporary architectural and artistic developments.
Henry Hobson Richardson: Drawings from the Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University (Monacelli, 2024), by Jay Wickersham (MArch ’84), Chris Milford, and Hope Mayo, presents previously unpublished sketches, renderings, and plans of more than 50 projects by the famed nineteenth-century architect, covering building types from houses and railroad stations to churches, libraries, and civic structures. Essays by the authors as well as architectural historian James O’Gorman shed light on Richardson’s extensive oeuvre and enduring legacy.
With IDEAS–A Secret Weapon for Business: Think and Collaborate Like a Designer (Routledge, 2024), Andrew Pressman (MDes ’94) offers a sensible guide for leaders to incorporate elements of design thinking within their organizations. Relying on case studies and practical techniques for fostering creativity and critical thought, this book provides readers with a framework to encourage innovation and teamwork in all business realms.
Large, Lasting, & Inevitable (Park Books, 2025) by Jorge Silvetti, Nelson Robinson Jr. Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, illuminates foundational moments that have shaped architectural thought throughout the past six decades. Edited by Nicolás Delgado Alcega (MArch II ’20), the book features a selection of Silvetti’s seminal texts alongside discussions with figures of the next generation—including design critic in architecture Mark Lee (MArch ’95), Robert P. Hubbard Professor of Architectural History Erika Naginski, Elisa Silva (MArch ’02), Nader Tehrani (MAUD ’91), and Alfredo Thiermann.
Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy (Island Press, 2024), by Shamichael Hallman (LF ’23), positions libraries as spaces that, when properly conceived and programmed, help build inclusivity communities. Drawing on extensive research and examples from throughout the United States, Hallman highlights the significant role libraries could play in healing the rifts that divide our nation.
Monumental Affairs_Living with Contested Spaces (Hatje Cantz, 2024), edited by Germane Barnes (Wheelwright Fellow, ’21), presents interviews, lectures, and other documentation from the Design Akademie Saaleck’s 2023 symposium, held at the former home of National Socialist ideologue and architect Paul Schultze-Naumberg in Saaleck, Germany. The most recent installment in the dieDASdocs series, this text features interdisciplinary explorations into discriminatory architectural and urban practices embedded within the conception, production, and endurance of monuments.
To Nos Lieux Communs (Fayard, 2024), edited by Fabrice Argounès, Michel Bussi, and Martine Drozdz, assistant professor of urban planning Magda Maaoui contributed a discussion on the Haussmannian “chambre de bonne” worker housing typology at the intersection of historic preservation, climate adaptation, thermal comfort, and health. An essay by Antoine Picon, G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology, addresses the complex global geographies of data centers.
In The Power of Where (Esri Press, 2024), Jack Dangermond (MLA ’69) details the history and advancements of geographic information systems (GIS), presenting mapping as a problem-solving method that allows users to perceive and understanding patterns of all kinds—from spatial to environmental to demographic. Architect and designer Richard Saul Wurman described the richly illustrated book as “a bible of the types of maps, cartography, spatial analysis, and diagrams that can bring our ideas for the future to life.”

Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA (Belt/Arcadia Publishing, 2024), by Patty Heyda (MArch ’00), probes the planning policies that shaped the St. Louis suburb where, in 2014, racial tensions erupted following the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Using more than 100 maps, Heyda examines philosophical, financial, and design-related forces that set the stage for this violence, prompting readers to consider for whom cities are built and how design impacts everyday life.
Revitalizing Japan: Architecture, Urbanization, and Degrowth (Actar Publishers, 2024) features the work of young architects in Japan who are practicing in ways that respond to the post-growth condition of the country’s shrinking population. Co-edited by Kayato Ota and Mohsen Mostafavi, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design and Harvard University Distinguished Professor, the book contains texts by architect Toyo Ito and community designer Ryo Yamazaki and photos by Kenta Hasegawa.