April Book Tour

About the Book

From “tomorrow’s greatest designer” (The Atlantic), a personal and deeply researched look at how the choices we build into our environment reflect and determine the way we think, connect, and live.

We've been led to believe that purposefully designed spaces are something reserved only for those that can afford them. But in reality, all the spaces we inhabit—to work, to learn, to heal, and to live—have been planned and built to influence our lives. They sway our emotions, nudge our behaviors, protect us from disease, and do more, or less, to support shared prosperity and our sense of the common good.

Our World in Ten Buildings unpacks this hidden but ever more important element of our lived experience. As author and architectural designer Michael P. Murphy takes us through ten milestone projects in his career he lays bare the physical, political, and intellectual labor at work shaping the world we live in.

With rare insight, access, and passion, Murphy braids the history of architecture with his own iconic projects to show the power of urban design and how it revolutionizes our homes, minds, workplaces, safety, and health care. Profound, and accessible, Our World in Ten Buildings will change the way you look at and think about your surroundings. 

We've been led to believe that purposefully designed spaces are something reserved only for those that can afford them. But in reality, all the spaces we inhabit—to work, to learn, to heal, and to live—have been planned and built to influence our lives. They sway our emotions, nudge our behaviors, protect us from disease, and do more, or less, to support shared prosperity and our sense of the common good.

Our World in Ten Buildings unpacks this hidden but ever more important element of our lived experience. As author and architectural designer Michael P. Murphy takes us through ten milestone projects in his career he lays bare the physical, political, and intellectual labor at work shaping the world we live in.

With rare insight, access, and passion, Murphy braids the history of architecture with his own iconic projects to show the power of urban design and how it revolutionizes our homes, minds, workplaces, safety, and health care. Profound, and accessible, Our World in Ten Buildings will change the way you look at and think about your surroundings. 

About the Author

Michael P. Murphy is an architect, educator, and writer, and is the founder and president of AMMA, a design and development collaborative focused on the ways in which space shapes our minds, bodies, and communities. In 2007, he founded the architectural non-profit firm, MASS Design Group, and was CEO until 2022, leading the design of their projects including the Butaro Hospital and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice to name a few. He is currently the Thomas Ventulett Distinguished Chair of Architectural Design at The Georgia Institute of Technology. Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children. 

Praise for the Book

“In this timely and clarifying book, Michael Murphy argues that a memorial can mark, provoke, evoke, or immerse. Anyone who has visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Murphy's masterwork in Montgomery, Alabama, knows that a great memorial can do all of these at once (and that Murphy just might be the Maya Lin of his generation). And that's only a tenth of what this book has to offer. If you care about the built environment, human flourishing, or the connection between the two, you will benefit from reading it."  
— Andrew Marantz, Writer, The New Yorker

"In Our World in Ten Buildings, Michael Murphy pulls off a quiet masterstroke: he identifies the holy grail of places that shape the human journey. From waiting rooms to last rooms, from homes and schools to prisons and memorials, these buildings define us, soothe us, challenge us, and carry us as we arrive, endure, and depart. With clarity and grace, Murphy shows how architecture is not just where life happens—it’s how life is held." 
— Susan Magsamen, Founder of International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Neuroaesthetics, Johns Hopkins University

“Michael Murphy, through his practice as an architect and through the stories told in this book, makes a powerful case for why a deep respect for humanity is a prerequisite for all great architecture and design.  These pages offer a truly inspirational vision for architecture’s role in the world.” 
— Tim Brown, Chair Emeritus, IDEO; author of Change By Design

“As I read Michael Murphy’s book I kept thinking about W.G. Sebald, and how like Sebald, Murphy seems to understand that buildings not only tell the story of humanity but actually protect and hold all our past lives, our hopes, dreams, vanities, delusions, keeping them safe from the ravages of time, eager to whisper across the ages to us, if only we know how to listen. Murphy understands this because he himself has designed one of the modern architectural wonders of the world, the Equal Justice Initiative’s memorial in Montgomery, but in these pages he goes beyond his own groundbreaking work to connect to other temples of human ambition and desire. He sees the world like a warrior architect poet and when you’re done with his words, maybe you will, too. You’ll certainly never walk the same through a city again.” 
— Wright Thompson, author of The Barn, Pappyland, and The Cost of These Dreams