2. ANDO. Complete Works 1975-Today by Philip Jodidio (TASCHEN, 150 euros)

«A mystic in a country that is no longer a mystic» is how Philppe Starck years ago defined Tadao Ando, former boxer, master (self-taught) of modernism and the only architect in the world to have won all the most prestigious prizes for architecture in his lifetime.

With his unique style, considered halfway between land art and architecture, and projects that play with space, light and matter, he continues to surprise even today that, at the age of 81 years, in his studio in Osaka he is always very active.

This book traces its history and work from its origins, passing from houses to churches (such as the chapel on the water in Hokkaido), from museums to apartments (such as the Rokko residential complex) and to the cultural spaces that in 50 years of work it has built in Japan, South Korea, France, Italy (one above all: the Fabrica complex built in Treviso for Benetton), Germany, Mexico and the United States. To close the book, the brand new projects of the Bourse de Commerce in Paris and the He Art Museum in Foshan, China.

And, for the more passionate, Taschen has also thought of a limited edition version of the book with an original drawing signed by the architect.

3. Islamic architecture. A world history by Eric Broug (Einaudi, 76 euros).

Creative exuberance, hypnotizing geometries, chromatic refinements. These are some characteristics of Islamic architecture, which we find in the most important and well-known mosques in the world as well as in the lesser-known and - surprisingly - precious buildings, selected for this publication accompanied by 300 sumptuous images.

A book that, crossing different eras and latitudes, travels through 1400 years of Islamic history and culture focusing on the floral arabesques in the pishtak of the mosques (the decorations around the portals) and on the references to the geometric harmony of the whole islamic art. Which, as Gothic cathedrals were for the Catholic West, represent the "architectural sublimation" of Islamic philosophy.

Page after page the author, the artist and Islamic pattern scholar Eric Broug, one of the leading experts of these particular geometric designs to which he has dedicated numerous essays, accompanies us to the comparison of architectural details and styles different.

4. The Computer. An History from the 17th Century to Today by Jen Müller (Taschen)

“What is a computer?” To answer this question, the creative director of the Design Vista studio in Düsseldorf employs 700 pages. We thus discover that - from the dawn of information technology - the history of the evolution of this machine is paved with disruptive innovations.

A book that explores all the technological passages but also the most important aesthetic ones, from the first ideas of a calculating machine to large office computers in the 1950s up to laptops and devices that we can wear such as smartwatches. And, finding the connections between iconic products such as the Apple Macintosh and the Sony Play Station, or passing through the milestones of video game and web development, the author also traces the stories of technology visionaries, pioneers and entrepreneurs.

All accompanied by very beautiful and accurate images, historical documents and scientific explanations that help to grasp all the most significant passages in the history of the computer. Including the influence of technology on today's political landscape.

5. The mountain of Carlo Mollino by Alberto Rossi and Roberto Dini (Hoepli publisher, 49 euros)

From the origins of Alpine Modernism to the birth of Cervinia (with buildings such as Casa del Sole) and Sauze d'Oulx, from surveys of rural architecture to projects for new urban realities in the Aosta Valley, from the reinvention of the mountain house (such as Casa Garelli in Champoluc) up to the hypermodernism of the mass tourism phase.

The first book ever dedicated to the mountain architecture of the Turin architect Carlo Mollino (ed. Hoepli) crosses over these themes.

Sixty projects illustrated by drawings from the Mollino archive which reveal how, for a nonconformist and eccentric architect, but also a passionate skier and mountaineer like him, the mountain was above all a great laboratory for experimentation.

6. Audry Large. Metamorphosis Signals by Barbara Brandi and Marco Rainò (Quodlibet, 18 euros)

Lastly, although it has been out for a few weeks, we like to point out this monograph dedicated to Audry Large and her work, perennially poised between art and design and which, in transforming forms of digital aesthetics into matter, modifies and characterizes the surrounding space.

Whether it's tables, lamps, vases, carafes or real sculptures, Audry Large manipulates their shapes using digital cinema techniques to create objects in PLA (polylactic acid) with 3D printing completely outside of any code aesthetic, mutant-objects with bright metallic colours. A book signed by the founders of the BRH+ architecture studio and curators of the IN Residence program.

Who, always interested in interdisciplinary experimentation, have found perfect harmony with the work of this French artist-designer.

Who will like it: creatives who, when faced with what is considered real, tend to question the authenticity of vision and perception. And to those who, a little bored by contemporary design, love to look at the work of those who know how to distance themselves from it.