The Buildings That Revolutionized Architecture

Art historian Florian Heine opens his foreword to the forthcoming Buildings That Revolutionized Architecture ( Prestel , $35) with Jacques Herzog’s famous line: “Architecture is architecture, and art is art. Architecture as art is unbearable.”

The words provide a foundation for what’s to come: a compendium of history’s greatest works of architecture, nothing more and nothing less. The book, written by historian Isabel Kuhl, pairs rich photography with lively encyclopedia-style write-ups to offer a chronological education in what makes these 100 buildings so extraordinary. Readers will recognize the usual greats—Brunelleschi’s Ospedale Degli Innocenti in Florence, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion—but may also enjoy rediscovering lesser-known marvels, such as Castel del Monte in southern Italy or Hans Scharoun’s Philharmonie in Berlin.

What’s building number 100, you wonder? David Childs’s One World Trade Center—*Architectural Digest’*s new home. We can’t say we disagree.