Book Nook: 9 Mellow Must-Reads For Summer

Kick back and relax this summer with these nine easy reads filled with inspiring work and beautiful imagery.

Connection: CCY Architects foreword by Rick Sommerfeld | Monacelli
Out July 6th, CCY Architects’ first monograph chronicles ten residences that articulate the office’s design process and exploration of creating architectural solutions rooted in natural place. As CCY uncovers the potential elements of each project, they reflect on and respond to the genuine qualities of the land, light, and seasons to devise the building blocks of a meaningful environment. Common to all is a respect for the land and an intention to forge connections.

Carlo Scarpa By Robert McCarter | Phaidon
The work of Carlo Scarpa challenged, and continues to challenge, accepted notions of modern architecture. While several books have been published on his work, none has approached the breadth and depth of this monograph by Robert McCarter, who is celebrated for his meticulously researched, experientially based, and jargon-free accounts of key figures in modern architecture.

Vibrant Botanicals: Transformational Recipes Using Adaptogens & Other Healing Herbs By Jennifer McGruther | Ten Speed Press
When used properly, plants provide a wealth of healing powers. Vibrant Botanicals provides more than 70 recipes for helping you feel your best when using herbal infusions.

Envisioning Landscapes: The Transformative Environments of Ojb By OJB; Foreword by Christopher Hawthorne; Contribution by Peter Walker | Monacelli
On sale September 7, this debut monograph of the visionary landscape architecture firm OJB uncovers the philosophy that guides the practice and reveals the transformative power of landscape through a selection of case studies drawn from the firm’s thirty-year history.

Oudolf Hummelo: A Journey Through a Plantsman’s Life By Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury | Monacelli
An intimate look at the personal garden of the Dutch landscape designer renowned for his plantings at the High Line in New York City, and Lurie Garden at Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Inspired by Place: CLB Architects By Chase Reynolds Ewald | Oro Editions
Evident in all CLB’s work is a bold contemporary spirit seeking original expression while referencing regional form and materials in creative ways. This monograph showcases eleven homes designed by the architects from their studios in Wyoming and Montana. A portion of the homes also highlight the group’s interior design work, which strikes a balance between sophisticated and comfortable and is conceived as a natural extension of the architecture.

Casa Lopez: Effortless Style By Pierre Sauvage | Flammarion-Pere Castor
Pierre Sauvage, designer of luxury homewares and interiors, brings the reader inside his French homes—both urban and country—providing inspiration and advice for creating effortlessly elegant interiors and garden spaces.

Cubism in Color: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris By Nicole Myers | Dallas Museum of Art
Juan Gris (1887–1927) was central to the development of Cubism in the early 20th century. Though the writer and art collector Gertrude Stein considered him a “perfect painter,” Gris’s pivotal role within the movement has often been overshadowed. Cubism in Color: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris reveals the virtuosic range of the artist’s short yet prolific career, illuminating his boundary-pushing contributions to Cubism.

Island Whimsy: Designing a Paradise by the Sea By Celerie Kemble | Rizzoli
Interior designer Celerie Kemble has a deep-rooted connection to the sun and surf. In the summer of 2004, Kemble laid eyes on a wild swath of jungle in the Dominican Republic next to minty-blue water and an endless stretch of golden sand, and fell madly in love. Over many years, she designed a home away from home there, an island retreat–a clubhouse and a grouping of family homes and guesthouses–suffused with light and air, full of indoor and outdoor rooms for relaxation. In her latest book, Island Whimsy, Kemble recounts the deeply personal and creative journey of designing Playa Grande and bringing this labor of love to life.

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