December 8, 2025

Set Pieces: Architecture for the Performing Arts in Fifteen Fragments (Birkhäuser) pairs the words of architects and leading critics with detailed visual explorations of Diamond Schmitt’s designs for some of the world’s most notable performing arts venues. The book draws readers into the conversations and design details that reveal the transformative and emotional power of architecture, and has been commended in the Typology category of the 2025 Architecture Book of the Year Awards.

The jury describes Set Pieces as: “A tightly defined and focused study of 15 spaces for different types of performance designed by one practice very experienced and best known for their work in this field. This book shows how the practice has developed, documenting some of the challenges inherent in designing performance spaces of varying specifications, both new build and refurbishment. Despite its narrow source material, it is a useful addition to the literature on this subject.” 

Contributors:
Don Schmitt, Diamond Schmitt
Matthew Lella, Diamond Schmitt
Gary McCluskie, Diamond Schmitt
Justin Davidson, Music & Architecture Critic for New York Magazine and Curbed
Kate Wagner, Architecture Critic for The Nation & Journalist
Robert Lepage, Playwright, Actor and Director
Mimi Lien, Set Designer
Robert Gerard Pietrusko, Designer & Composer, Associate Professor at University of Pennsylvania

Credits:
Paddy Harrington (Concept, Frontier)
Jennifer Sigler (Concept and Executive Editor)
Brian Sholis (Executive Editor, Frontier)
Javier Zeller (Managing Editor, Diamond Schmitt)
Cristian Ordoñez (Graphic Design for Frontier)

The Architecture Book of the Year Awards program was launched in 2023 by The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects, the Temple Bar Trust and the World Architecture Festival. This year judges considered 8 categories in all, and the winners were presented with their certificates at Temple Bar in London.

Learn more about the winners here.