The Great Builders surveys the careers of forty great architects whose engineering skills were crucial to their success. Sixteen nationalities and seven centuries of architectural innovation make for a survey of spectacular scope and depth: from churches and fortresses to bridges and high-tech skyscrapers,it includes masterpieces from all over the world and covers 700 years of architectural history. Here is Brunelleschi,who built the'unbuildable'dome of Florence Cathedral; Sinan,a Christian engineer who became chief architect to the Ottoman court; Joseph Paxton,scribbling down a design for the Crystal Palace,London,on a piece of blotting paper; and James Bogardus,an early American evangelist of the opportunities offered by cast-iron architecture. Rapid advances in industrial production inspired experiments with new materials and techniques,gradually allowing a whole new architecture to emerge: reinforced concrete,plate glass and steel were central to the creations of Le Corbusier,Auguste Perret and Mies van der Rohe,for instance; and,in the High-Tech architecture of the present day - represented by Norman Foster,Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava,among others - computer-aided design has seemingly tested the boundaries of the possible.With 26 illustrations,19 in colour
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Thames & Hudson LtdISBN: 9780500294789Number of pages: 256Weight: 240 gDimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'The story that these 40 anecdotes tell is captivating...(this) is a rare book that treats architecture as an expression of structural science in the hands of artists'- New York Journal of Books'(An) excellent study of architecture's most outstanding exponents'- Burlington Magazine
Kommentar