The Bridges Of Robert Adam A Fanciful And Picturesque Tour

The bridge has always stood as a transitional structure - not purely a work of engineering, nor simply a work of architecture. Its functional requirements are more stringent than those of the average building; it not only must stand up; it must stand up, support those who cross it, and effectively span the space over which it stands. As Samuel Johnson said, "the first excellence of a bridge is strength ... for a bridge that cannot stand, however beautiful, will boast its beauty but a little while." The Scottish architect Robert Adam (1728-92) understood these precepts well, continually building bridges that were not just structurally sound, but also aesthetically pleasing. Unlike his contemporaries, Adam did not view bridges as mere skeletons upon which to apply ornament. Rather, he sought to achieve architectural totality, incorporating his bridge designs into greater architectural programs, thereby producing aesthetically pleasing and contextually specific designs. From the Pulteney Bridge in Bath to the ruined arch and viaduct at Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, The Bridges of Robert Adam: A Fanciful and Picturesque Tour will take the reader across Britain, shedding new light on an understudied aspect of the great architect's career.

This volume is a unique compendium of the works of Robert and James Adam, both built and unbuilt. It includes 900 illustrations. The Complete Works of Robert and James Adam is reprinted here in its entirety, updated and corrected. This title covers every one of the 230 or so built works, including 12 that have been recently discovered. It is complemented by a completely new title, Unbuilt Adam. This mentions all the brothers' important unbuilt projects, and it discusses and illustrates 130 of them. This volume gives an exceptionally thorough review of the brothers' designs. From public buildings to country houses, and monuments to ceilings, it is well informed and erudite. It provides a mine of information for both the expert and the general reader, and it uses the works covered to give an understanding of the Adam manner.

Robert Adam is perhaps the best known of all British architects, the only one whose name denotes both a style and an era. The new decorative language he introduced at Kedleston and Syon around 1760 put him at the forefront of dynamic changes taking place in 18th-century British architecture. His later claim that his practice with his brother James had effected 'a kind of revolution' in design was no idle boast. Their style dominated the later Georgian period and their influence was widespread, not only in Western Europe but in Russia and North America. But for such a well-known figure, much of Robert Adam's art still remains poorly understood. This new study, based on papers given at a Georgian Group symposium in 2015, looks afresh at many aspects of the Adam brothers' oeuvre, such as interior planning, their use of colour, the influence of classical sources, their involvement in the art market, town planning and building speculation, and Robert Adam's late picturesque drawings and castle designs - all within the context of the Adam family background and their personal and working relationships. The Scottish architecture of Robert and James's older brother, John, is also assessed. There are essays by established Adam experts as well as contributions from a younger generation of historians and postdoctoral scholars, one of the book's aims being to stimulate further research on the Adams' contribution to British architecture, art and design.

The projects and built works of Demetri Porphyrios trace the evolution of an architect who has helped to bring about a revival of the art of construction. Projects range from his first pavilions at Highgate to the more recent designs for Paternoster Square.

An award-winning architecture firm practicing in the heart of New York City, Oliver Cope Architect has been building exceptional homes since 1988. One of the premier residential firms in the country, they have earned a reputation for creating one-of-a-kind residences of the highest quality, crafted to meet the specific needs and desires of their clients. The firm's unique combination of technical and artistic expertise results in projects that appear timeless, effortless and appropriate to their sites and surroundings. From Park Avenue apartments to historic brownstones, to houses large and small, they draw on their collective knowledge and experience to help clients realize homes. Here, in their first book, they share a selection of those homes with the world. Including drawn plans for all of the projects, original sketches illuminating the process, and richly illustrated with commissioned photography throughout. This book is not only about a collection of homes, but the team behind them, and the way that they build.

At a time when we are reexamining our values, reeling from the pace of change, witnessing the clash between good instincts and "pragmatism," dealing with the angst of a new millennium, Neil Postman, one of our most distinguished observers of contemporary society, provides for us a source of guidance and inspiration. In Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century he revisits the Enlightenment, that great flowering of ideas that provided a humane direction for the future -- ideas that formed our nation and that we would do well to embrace anew. He turns our attention to Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Kant, Edward Gibbon, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Jefferson, and Franklin, and to their then-radical thinking about inductive science, religious and political freedom, popular education, rational commerce, the nation-state, progress, and happiness. Postman calls for a future connected to traditions that provide sane authority and meaningful purpose -- as opposed to an overreliance on technology and an increasing disregard for the lessons of history. And he argues passionately for specific new guidelines in the education of our children, with renewed emphasis on developing the intellect as successfully as we are developing a computer-driven world. Witty, provocative, and brilliantly reasoned, Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century is Neil Postman's most radical, and most commonsensical, book yet.