Page after gorgeous page of architecture and design
Whether you’re looking for a gift or just want to impress guests with your level of culture, these new coffee-table books will fill the bill. This selection of architecture and design releases will enlighten, entertain and transport you to perfectly edited places.
“Be Bold: Bespoke Modern Interiors” by Jay Jeffers (Gibbs Smith; $50; 272 pp.)
It’s always the details that make the difference between a nice home and an exceptional one, and San Francisco interior designer Jay Jeffers, a native Texan, shows exactly how to pull it off in his new book. A portfolio of his favorite projects, “Be Bold” is a demonstration of 21st-century modern style that’s both beautiful and comfortable.
“Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Interior Designers of the Past 100 Years” by Jennifer Boles (Vendome Press; $75; 400 pp.)
This who’s-who of the design world reaches back into the 19th century to Elsie de Wolfe, born at the end of the Civil War and one of the first professional interior designers in America. The book devotes space to the life and work of designer names you know and some you ought to know. From Americans Dorothy Draper and Bunny Williams to Brits David Hicks and John Stefanidis, the book cycles through decades of stylemakers, showing their work and explaining their influence and inspiration.
“Casa Moderna: Latin American Living” by Philip Jodidio (Thames & Hudson; $65; 320 pp.)
Latin America is known for its architectural innovation, particularly its cutting-edge modern design. Philip Jodidio chronicles homes with cantilevered sections, some that look like stacked, mismatched boxes, floating staircases and artful stair rails. The hottest architectural tours these days are in Latin America, and a cruise through this book might make you want to plan your next vacation.
New books showcase great design around the world and pay tribute to Victor Lundy, an architect with Houston ties.
“Texas Made, Texas Modern” by Helen Thompson and Casey Dunn (The Monacelli Press; $50; 224 pp.)
Helen Thompson’s latest looks at modern architecture in a variety of Texas terrains: plains and plateau, desert and hills. The state’s architects stuck to authentic materials — stone and masonry, wood and steel — devising primary homes, vacation homes and even a writing studio/hunting blind perched on the edge of a cliff in the Hill Country. Though Houston is overlooked, you’ll see beautiful examples of urban design in Austin, Dallas, Marfa and San Antonio.
“Victor Lundy: Artist Architect” edited by Donna Kacmar (Princeton Architectural Press; $55; 240 pp.)
Beaux Arts/Bauhaus-trained architect Victor Lundy taught for eight years at what is now the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston. Donna Kacmar, a UH professor, collected a handful of writers to tackle various phases of Lundy’s career, including architectural historian Stephen Fox, who wrote about his Houston projects. One of his most significant works was the U.S. Tax Court Building in Washington, D.C., now on the National Register of Historic places.
“Cabana Anthology” by Cabana magazine (Vendome Press; $95; 488 pp.)
If less to read and more to look at is what you prefer, this is the book for you. The magazine highlights images from some of its favorite projects around the world. You’ll see exotic mosaic tile walls in Tangiers, wisteria-draped gardens in England, orthodox iconography in Russia, ornate frescoes in Italy and rustic Americana in Colorado. It’s design, art, architecture and travel all in one.