The 10 Best Architecture Books of 2024

As we've written in past years, given how few awards there are specifically geared to architecture books, the annual announcement of the DAM Architectural Book Award winners during the Frankfurt Book Fair is welcome — not only for seeing who has won but for getting a sense of where excellence in publishing can be found in our digital age. As might be expected, the winning books feature well thought out layouts, imagery, papers, production, etc. that help make the contents understandable and make the books beautiful objects in and of themselves. Also as in other years, and befitting the Frankfurt-based DAM, this year's winners primarily come from publishers in Germany and Switzerland: eight of the ten winners are Swiss or German publishers, while the other two publishers are located in Portugal and Luxembourg.

• EP \ Viana de Lima / Monade
• Erieta Attali Kengo Kuma – Mirror in the Mirror / Hartmann Books
• Was wäre wenn – Ungebaute Architektur in der Schweiz/What if – Unbuild Architecture in Switzerland / Christoph Merian Verlag
• Polylemma / Jovis Verlag
• Thinking and building on shaky ground – On Architecture in seismic Regions / Birkhäuser Verlag
• Wild Site / Point Nemo Publishing
• Researching otherwise – Pluriversal methodologies for landscape and urban studies / GTA Verlag
• Tane Garden House / Vitra Design Museum
• Rom – Häuser der Stadt 1920 -1980 / Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König
• Das Bewusstsein des Ortes / Quart Verlag

This year's jury was comprised of architect Giulio Castegini; Dr. Dorothee Ader, director of Klinspor Museum; Lisa Schons, editor at Park Books; graphic designer Victor Balko; architect Danny Lettkemann; and Dr. Katja Leiskau, Head of Archive at DAM. According to DAM, given that “the wide range of topics and the high standard of the entries presented the jury with an enormous challenge,” the jurors decided, as in previous years, to select a further ten entries for the shortlist plus a “Special Mention” for the most outstanding entry from this year's host country, Italy. These additional books are listed below.

• Set Pieces — Architecture for the Performing Arts in Fifteen Fragments / Birkhäuser Verlag
• Architektur Kann Mehr — von Gemeinschaft Fördern Bis Klimawandel Entschleunigen / Birkhäuser Verlag
• I Prefer Not To / Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König
• Amaza Lee Meredith — Imagines Herself Modern Architecture and the Black American Middle Class / The MIT Press
• Beton & Nicht Beton / Jovis Verlag
• A Way of Life — Notes on Ballenberg / Lars Müller Publishers
• Rome — Las Vegas — Bread and Circuses / Lars Müller Publishers
• Rewi — Ata Haere, Kia Tere / Massey University Press
• Mass Made Units / Triest Verlag

Special Mention DAM Architectural Book Award 2024:

• Officina Gio Ponti / Quodlibet Habitat