In about 40 BCE 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. Written in a clear and engaging style,the text encourages readers to examine closely in photographs and line drawings the pragmatic, innovative and aesthetic attributes of buildings, and to imagine how these would have been praised or criticised by contemporary observers. Architecture is discussed in various contexts--artistic, economic, environmental, political, social and technological--so as to determine the extent to which buildings met the needs of clients, society at large, and future generations.
This book also examines the unique methods of great architects past and present. Among them are Alvar Aalto, Robert Adam, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Gustave Eiffel, Peter Eisenman, Antonio Gaudi, Frank Gehry, Walter Gropius, Imhotep, Le Corbusier, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Michelangelo, Glenn Murcutt, Andrea PaUadio,Eero Saarinen, Koca Sinan, Louis Sullivan, Christopher Wren and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The global reach of the text is matched by a rich assortment of photographs from the world over and a greater array of detailed line drawings than can be found in any architectural survey. The authors have created a formidable body of work that ranges over much of the world's architectural heritage and testifies to some of the greatest achievements of the human spirit.
PREFACE x
MAPS xi-xvi
INTRODUCTION 1
A Word about Drawings and Images 5
CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNINGS OF ARCHITECTURE
Prehistoric Settlements and Megalith Constructions
Eastern Europe 9
Western Europe 10
Ancient Mesopotamia 14
Sumerians; Akkadians, and Neo-Sumerians 15
Babylonians, Hittites, and Assyrians 18
Neo-Babylonians and Persians 20
Ancient Egypt 22
Essay: "Hydraulic" Civilizations 23
The Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom 24
The First Pyramids 24
Fourth-Dynasty Pyramids at Giza 27
The Middle Kingdom 30
The New Kingdom 31
CHAPTER 2
THE GREEK WORLD 39
The Minoans 39
The Mycenaeans 42
Mycenae 42
Greece: The Archaic Period 47
Greece: The Classical Period 50
The Parthenon, Athens 51
Other Buildings on the Acropolis 53
Essay: Celebrating Athena's Birthday 54
Greece: The Hellenistic Period 57
Greek City Planning 60
The Athenian Agora 60
Hellenistic Cities 62