Superstructures: The World's Greatest Modern Structures - Hardcover

Parkyn, Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1858942381 ISBN 13: 9781858942384

Publisher: Merrell Pub Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

SuperStructures celebrates and illustrates the most ambitious, awe-inspiring and advanced engineered structures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Every structure explored here has pushed at the boundaries of the possible by combining unsurpassed levels of functionality with an often unexpected beauty. While most of the structures featured have been completed, some are still under construction or at planning stage, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the superstructures of tomorrow.
Every one of the structures in this landmark publication attests to the genius and skill of the modern engineer and demonstrates the physical elegance, power and dynamism of the most impressive constructions of the last 100 years. This illustrated book, with more than 300 photographs and explanatory drawings, is written by Neil Parkyn, an architect with first-hand experience of working on major projects in all parts of the world. The design and evolution of each structure, and how it has challenged humankind's practical application of science and technology, are discussed. Key facts and vital statistics clarify the sheer scale of the featured structures.

About this title

About the Author

Neil Parkyn is an architect and urban planner who has worked in twenty-one countries as well as his native Britain. His many publications include Seventy-Architectural Wonders of Our World: Amazing Structures and How They Were Built, published to great critical acclaim in 2002.

Reviews

The Dutch Sea Barrier; China's Three Gorges Dam; Haj Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Sydney's Telstra Stadium; France's Millau Motorway viaduct; the Hubble space telescope—these are a few of the 50-odd megastructures presented in this globally pitched (but Euro-focused) grand overview. At 10"×12", the book's scale attempts to match its subject, and many of the crisp, full-bleeds—such as of the tunnel boring machine used for the Channel Tunnel, which looks like a giant concrete snowflake with teeth—do just that. Very few of the projects, shown here in 350 color illustrations, are in the U.S., a refreshing change from endless celebrations of familiar public works. Many recent innovative large-scale architectural projects have been built elsewhere, a fact that architect Parkyn (The Seventy Architectural Wonders of Our World) does not overplay in a brisk, business-like text. There's as much technical information as most casual enthusiasts will want ("The side panels are clamped to the stringers to form the 3 m. [10 ft.] long sections of the bridge" etc.), but the pictures, framed by bold fonts if unexceptional layout, mostly speak for themselves—in huge, thrumming chords.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Merrell Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858942381
• ISBN 13: 9781858942384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192