10x10_2

Photograph by Scott Breithaupt

If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, what is writing about architecture like? Phaidon’s 10x10_2 does nothing to answer that question. A follow-up to the publisher’s popular 10x10, this mammoth book compiles 100 of the world’s most impressive architectural talents as chosen by 10 expert curators. The result is a book nearly as big as the task of collecting the 1,500 images of approximately 250 buildings in 28 different countries. Only the essential details are provided — along with some essays from the curators — leaving the images to do the talking. A coffee-table book as big as the table itself, 10x10_2 is required reading for design lovers — even if there’s little to read.