EN VITRINE DE JUILLET | Essais sur la matérialité et entretiens consacrés à la construction
De la part de la librairie du Centre Canadien d’Architecture :
« Comment choisir le bon clou? Qu’est-ce que la ville des petites choses? Comment est-ce que les designers intègrent le jeu dans notre quotidien?
Ce mois-ci, notre sélection rassemble des essais sur la matérialité et des entretiens consacrés à la construction.
25 façons de planter un clou
Enzo Mari. Les presses du réel, 2025
Un récit autobiographique et une méditation sans compromis sur le sens du design, par la voix de celui qui a incarné la conscience éthique et politique de la discipline dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Tout geste de design est un projet qui contribue à redessiner le monde : telle était la vision de Mari, qui n’a en rien perdu de sa dérangeante actualité.
The Unimportance of Form
Jasper Morrison. Sina Sohrab, ed. Apartamento, 2026
The Unimportance of Form and Other Arguments gathers the early writings of British designer Jasper Morrison, written between 1984 and 2002 and collected and edited by industrial designer Sina Sohrab. Published together here for the first time, these texts map the formation of ideas that would come to define his practice: the responsibilities of design, the value of usefulness, and the quiet authority of ordinary things. From autobiographical manifestos and his 1985 RCA thesis to later essays, musings, and even notes for an unfinished novel, this compendium of 31 texts captures the honing of a lifelong argument about what design is—and what it should be.
Totems: Selected Essays on Architecture
Irénée Scalbert. Park Books, 2026
Totems brings together ten texts by architect, historian, and critic Irénée Scalbert. Written between 2001 and 2025, they reflect nearly three decades of critical engagement with architecture and its cultural contexts. Ranging in length and register—from concise meditations to extended analytical essays—the collection captures the evolution of Scalbert’s thinking as a critic, teacher, and participant in architectural discourse.
Brick Bonds
Melissa Price, 2026
Brick Bonds is a book documenting over 50 bond patterns used in brick-laying, including the basic wall bond patterns as well as paving patterns and more elaborate diaper patterns and other decorative techniques. We are surrounded by bricks, but seldom dwell on the patterns used to build them into walls and structures.
GRAM 07 : Nicolas Dorval-Bory Architectes
Éditions QNDMC, 2026
GRAM is a series of architecture publications sharing conversations and encounters with newly established architectural practices. Nicholas Dorval-Bory Architectes was established in 2014 in Paris, France. The discussions are based on a predefined framework, a similar email opens and ends the dialogue while the ones in between respond and nourish topics brought forward by Nicholas. This method leads to theoretical or practical outcomes, often both, and opens the doors to the endless thought processes behind the production of space.
En travaux ! : De la rénovation à la réouverture. La transformation du Centre culturel suisse à Paris
Centre culturel suisse à Paris, 2026
Un regard à la fois graphique, artistique et documentaire sur la transformation du bâtiment du Centre culturel suisse à Paris et sur le processus de rénovation mené entre 2022 et 2026 par les studios d’architecture ASBR (Paris) et Truwant + Rodet + (Bâle). Ce regard est porté par les photographes Florine Leoni et Nicolas Delaroche, ainsi que par la graphiste Adeline Mollard, qui développe un traitement des images en risographie afin de permettre une lecture en parallèle des différentes étapes de cette métamorphose architecturale.
Aldo van Eyck : Seventeen, 18, 19…Playgrounds
Denisa Kollarová and Anna van Lingen. Oreri, 2026
Seventeen Playgrounds’ is a research project by Denisa Kollarová and Anna van Lingen on the work of the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck (1918–1999), who designed hundreds of playgrounds in Amsterdam between the 1950s and 1970s. These playgrounds, characterised by simple metal structures and concrete elements, enabled children to develop autonomy and creativity through play. »