The Story Of Architecture

Dorling Kindersley's visual approach, using photographs supported by architectural plans and diagrams, combine with inspiring text to tell the appealing story of the history of architecture.

The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius declared firmitas, utilitas, and venustas-firmness, commodity, and delight- to be the three essential attributes of architecture. These qualities are brilliantly explored in this book, which uniquely comprises both a detailed survey of Western architecture, including Pre-Columbian America, and an introduction to architecture from the Middle East, India, Russia, China, and Japan. The text encourages readers to examine closely the pragmatic, innovative, and aesthetic attributes of buildings, and to imagine how these would have been praised or criticized by contemporary observers. Artistic, economic, environmental, political, social, and technological contexts are discussed so as to determine the extent to which buildings met the needs of clients, society at large, and future generations.

This volume retraces the story and development of architecture from the antique times to our days, with numerous illustrations and excursuses about major architects, theoreticians, and movements. An ideal textbook for students and for anyone interested to know more about architecture.

The Short Story of Architecture is a pocket book guide to key styles, buildings, elements and materials – a new and innovative guide to the subject of architecture that explores 50 key buildings, from the Great Pyramids to high–tech, sustainable skyscrapers. Accessible and concise, the book links the 50 key works to the most important architectural materials, elements and styles, giving readers all the tools they need to understand and appreciate the built world. "A brilliant little book […] Those with an interest in architecture but who find the language and jargon of the genre intimidating and often impenetrable are sure to find Hodge's simple accessible style enjoyable and refreshing"– Self Build & Design "I enjoyed this book. There is no fluff here, nothing extra. It's just a great overview of some great buildings, architectural styles and materials. The photographs are beautiful and the writing crisp and clear. I recommend this book for anyone who wants an introduction to architecture and some insights in the buildings around us or that predate us." – Goodreads reviewer "I am an architect and most certainly enjoyed this book. (…) [T]he chapters Elements and Materials are a nice take on architectural history and will offer valuable information for non professionals! I see this book as an encyclopaedia to get basic information on various topics. But the very short chapters are really just a starting point. The images are very helpful throughout and the layout is clean and helps the reader navigate the book. You are looking for a Short Story of Architecture? That is exactly what you get, in the best possible way." – Goodreads reviewer Other books in 'The Short Story of…' series include The Short Story of Art, The Short Story of Photography, The Short Story of Film and The Short Story of Modern Art.

Dana Cuff delves into the architect's everyday world in "Architecture" to uncover an intricate social art of design, resulting in a new portrait of the profession that sheds light on what it means to become an architect.

The imagined histories of twenty-five architectural drawings and models, told through reminiscences, stories, conversations, letters, and monologues. Even when an architectural drawing does not show any human figures, we can imagine many different characters just off the page: architects, artists, onlookers, clients, builders, developers, philanthropists—working, observing, admiring, arguing. In Stories from Architecture, Philippa Lewis captures some of these personalities through reminiscences, anecdotes, conversations, letters, and monologues that collectively offer the imagined histories of twenty-five architectural drawings. Some of these untold stories are factual, like Frank Lloyd Wright’s correspondence with a Wisconsin librarian regarding her $5,000 dream home, or letters written by the English architect John Nash to his irascible aristocratic client. Others recount a fictional, if credible, scenario by placing these drawings—and with them their characters—into their immediate social context. For instance, the dilemmas facing a Regency couple who are considering a move to a suburban villa; a request from the office of Richard Neutra for an assistant to measure Josef von Sternberg’s Rolls-Royce so that the director’s beloved vehicle might fit into the garage being designed by his architect; a teenager dreaming of a life away from parental supervision by gazing at a gadget-filled bachelor pad in Playboy magazine; even a policeman recording the ground plans of the house of a murder scene. The drawings, reproduced in color, are all sourced from the Drawing Matter collection in Somerset, UK, and are fascinating objects in themselves; but Lewis shifts our attention beyond the image to other possible histories that linger, invisible, beyond the page, and in the process animates not just a series of archival documents but the writing of architectural history.

In a continuously running stream of events, The History of Architecture pieces together humankind's building prowess from 10,000 BCE, when humans began creating basic shelters from twigs and leaves, through to the wondrous feats of today, visible in futuristic skyscrapers and towers of concrete, steel and glass. It covers religious and secular architecture, including places of worship, royal buildings, forts, commercial complexes, bridges, industrial buildings, transportation hubs and residences. Discover styles and sub-styles, ranging across civilisations and geographies through biographies, with great masters like Brunelleschi and Frank Lloyd Wright, whose works are considered landmarks of architectural achievement. A famous architect once said, 'Ideally all buildings should be visited'. Practically impossible as that is, many of the more stupendous edifices can be `visited' through the pages of this book.

A comprehensive history of architecture worldwide, with illustrations, plans and maps.