My Favorite Material Is Light: & Other Quotes by Architects

Frank opinions, inspiring insights, and hard-earned advice from the world’s most celebrated architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Zaha Hadid, Le Corbusier, and Shigeru Ban

Architects see the built world not only for what it is, but for what it could be. This jam-packed tome – created for students, professionals, and armchair enthusiasts alike – shares their invaluable perspective. With more than 500 quotes from architects throughout history, and around the world, it acts a go-to resource for life lessons, revelations, and frank opinions that can offer guidance to us all.

Featuring insight, inspiration, and motivation from some of the world’s most celebrated visionaries, including , the book is organized into chapters on topics ranging from beauty, clients, and light, to materials, sustainability, and scale. Many of the wise words were newly discovered in monographs, letters, interviews, essays, and more especially for this collection, with the original source for each quotation included, allowing them to also be read in wider context. Bound in an embossed leatherette case, this small but mighty book is a visual feast, with quotes presented in an array of bold typefaces, lending the pages a dynamic spirit.

Designed to sit in pride of place on desktops and coffee tables, this unique and thoughtfully curated book is at once an exquisite keepsake and useful resource, made to dip into time and time again. 

• Publication date: 24 September 2026
• Page count: 320
• Dimensions: Height 209 mm; Width 144 mm; Thickness 29 mm
• Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781837292530