The Story of Western Architecture - Softcover

Risebero, Bill

4.19

37 ratings by Goodreads

9780262680479: The Story of Western Architecture

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262680475 ISBN 13: 9780262680479

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1985

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In this highly original introductory survey, British architect and planner, Bill Risebero covers the development of Western architecture from fifth century Europe to the present in terms of economic priorities, class relations, climate, natural resources, and other factors that affect our built environment. From the Gothic cathedrals to the White Towers in Los Angeles, Risebero discusses and illustrates architecture in the context of human affairs. He explains how the communtarian architecture of early societies afforded social satisfactions that compensated for their lack of technical sophistication, how the Greeks brought exquisite refinement to a simple structural system, and how grandiose Roman architecture attempted to impose security on a society plagued by inflation and unemployment. His own informal sketches and handwritten captions throughout the book provide helpful, visual outlines of each period.

Bill Risebero is also the author of Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History, which is a sequel to this book and available in paperback from The MIT Press.

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About the Author:

Bill Risebero is an architect and town planner in London. He teaches at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London and in the London Program of Syracuse University.

Review:

"One of the most remarkable books on the subject that I have ever come across ... a tremendous achievement of Pevsnerian dimensions."
- Sherban Cantacuzino, former Executive Editor, The Architectural Review
"An excellent, very readable survey full of unconventional judgments, imbued with a town planner's humanist values."
- Publishers Weekly

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