5 architecture and design books to read this month

“Extraordinary Morocco” by Elena Masera (Tonocontinuo editions, 25 euros).

Born in Milan, after 14 years of working in the media, Elena Masera decides to follow her passion for photography and, after some intermediate stages, she arrives in Morocco. She where she settles. Right in the heart of the Medina of Marrakech, where she lives today, Elena Masera thus discovers a light, a landscape and many poetic stories to tell.

Precisely those that make up the photographic book "Extraordinary Morocco" where, behind each photo, the poetry of the landscapes, the colors of the architecture and the many faces of everyday life are reflected. As an observer, Elena Masera manages to describe traditions superimposed on Western habits, faces, views, skies and architecture. She focusing on some "places of the soul".

Who will like it: nomadic and curious souls who, above all, try to capture the soul of a place. The spiritual essence that is always contained in that structure made up of streets, houses, shops and, of course, people, which we call a city.

Read also: In Marrakech, a welcoming riad where to start discover Morocco

Philosophy of landscape by Paolo d'Angelo (Quodlibet, 18 euros)

The book by Paolo d'Angelo, professor of Aesthetics at the Roma Tre University, is in its third edition (and third update), which takes the title of a famous essay by Georg Simmel, published exactly a century ago. An essay that reaffirms how the discourse on landscape is not just architecture or ecology, but rather always arises from a philosophical reflection. And aesthetics.

A book to be read slowly, to meditate on the thinking that, during the twentieth century, passed through designers and urban planners and which, today, poses new challenges: the relationship between landscape and art, between cinema and environmental art. What idea of landscape is behind the concrete interventions that are then carried out? This book tries to give an answer.

Who will like it: to those who wonder about environmental protection and redevelopment policies in the belief that the way we imagine the landscape is decisive for our existence.

Alberto Meda. Tension and lightness by Marco Sanmicheli (AA.VV. ed. Electa, 40 euros)

Accompanying the exhibition of the same name inaugurated last month at the Triennale di Milano (and scheduled until 7 January 2024) is this book edited by Marco Sanmicheli and with texts by Testi by Riccardo Blumer, Rolf Fehlbaum, Tullia Iori, Ezio Manzini and Marilia Pederbelli.

A volume of essays, interviews, photographs, images of prototypes, drawings and unpublished materials that span over 40 years of activity by AlbertoMeda, an engineer and designer born in Como and always active in Milan. Technical director of Kartell since 1973, collaborator of Brevetti Gaggia and Alfa Romeo Auto and, today, of companies such as Alessi, Cinelli, Colombodesign, Mandarina Duck, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Vitra, Olivetti, Zucchetti, Arte Sella and many other companies.

A book that traverses his working method whose poetics develop around a constant search for visual and constructive lightness and the evolved and extended concept of comfort.

Who will like it: who wants to know in depth the modus operandi of one of the still active designers who have made the history of many unforgettable objects.

Small illustrated manual for font seekers (AA.VV., Officina il Saggiatore, 15 euros)

Roman or Garamond? Times New Roman or Calibri? Behind the choice of a typeface there is, literally, a world of characters and stories that are worth knowing. We have to wait until November 21 to immerse ourselves in this small and precious essay which tells how they were created and what the cultural history of the different fonts is typographic.

A story that is intertwined with brands, logos, iconic advertisements and the most common uses. Accompanied by illustrations by Giacomo Agnello Modica, it is a book full of curiosities and information.

Who will like it: Designers, graphic designers and advertisers. But also to communication scholars and to all those who, at least once in their life, have found themselves having to choose "a character".