Holiday Gift Books: 06 Edition

'Tis the time of the year again! Time to ask your friends and relatives for those super-pricey though super-relevant architecture books for the holidays. Like last year's list, these are grouped into pairs. Enjoy!


Tom Kundig: Houses edited by Dung Ngo and Sauerbruch Hutton: Archive by Matthias Sauerbruch & Louisa Hutton.
Two monographs, one on a Seattle-based architect, the other on a colorful German office.


Design Like You Give a Damn by Architecture for Humanity and Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century edited by Alex Steffen.
Two books that deal with the problems facing humanity and the planet now and in the future.


Contemporary Public Space: Un-volumetric Architecture edited by Aldo Aymonino & Valerio Paulo Mosco and New City Life by Jan Gehl, et. al.
Two books focusing on the all-too-important public realm.


Forgotten New York by Kevin Walsh and Off the Map by Alex Turnbull and James Turnbull.
Two books that started as web pages, the highly informative Forgotten NY and the fun time-drainer Google Sightseeing.


Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America by Alan Berger and Above Paris: The Aerial Survey of Roger Henrard by Jean-Louis Cohen.
Two books that illustrate the appeal of aerial photography, beyond and before Google Earth.


Materials for Design by Victoria Ballard Bell & Patrick Rand and Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design by author.
Two books on what's driving architecture forward: material exploration and ecological sensitivity.


Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America With the Center for Land Use Interpretation edited by Matthew Coolidge & Sarah Simons and Did Someone Say Participate? edited by Markus Miessen and Shumon Basar.
Two books that expand and awaken the scope of architecture and urbanism.


Richard Nickel's Chicago by Richard Cahan & Michael Williams and Along the Way: MTA Arts for Transit by Sandra Bloodworth and William Ayres.
Two books on the two main cities in my life, Chicago and New York.


A Theory of Architecture by Nikos A. Salingaros and The Architecture of Happiness by Alain De Botton.
Two unique, alternative theories on architecture.


Alvaro Siza: Complete Works by Kenneth Frampton and The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture by Peter Eisenman.
Finally, two massive books on two well-known architects.

Some more lists:

:: Amazon's Best Books of 2006
:: Design Observer's Holiday Reading
:: SF Gate's Holiday Goodies Between Covers
:: New York Times' 100 Notable Books
:: Fimoculous.com's constantly-updated Lists 2006
:: The Architect's Newspaper's Holiday Gift Books
:: Holiday Book Recommendations at Streetsblog.