Synopsis:
From Aalto to ziggurat, this new work offers an authoritative and accessible guide to architecture and its history. With over 5,000 entries--twice as many as its nearest competitor--it provides extensive coverage of all periods of Western architectural history, from ancient times to the present day, in styles ranging from Assyrian architecture to Flemish Mannerism.
With entries spanning from the commonplace to the less well known, this dictionary aims to cover as wide a range of architectural terms as possible in an accessible style. Curl has included over 250 attractive illustrations, which add vital visual information to entries on topics such as the arch or the cross. There are also longer entries which explain the different schools of architecture--from Bauhaus to the Federal Style--and put them in their historical context. Biographical entries are provided for a great number of architects from the ancients to leading figures of today. From Brunelleschi and Gropius to Le Corbusier and Brunel, each entry outlines the architect's importance and gives examples of their most notable buildings.
Comprehensive and up to date, this book will prove to be an indispensable guide to anyone interested in architecture and its history. It is ideal for students and professional architects, as well as general readers.
Review:
This newly researched and up-to-date architectural reference work should appeal to curious readers as well as serious researchers, as it offers a complete guide to the history of architecture. Its entries cover both biographical and historical material. The information on architects, designers, and craftsmen--from ancient to contemporary--is annotated with useful and relevant cross-references that together tell a complete story about a particular subject, style, or theory. Attractive illustrations render the architectural terms more accessible and help readers to better understand the differences between, for example, Doric or Ionic columns. Biographical entries for a great number of well- and lesser-known architects, some with illustrations of their best-known works, and entries about their influences and contemporaries offer a well-rounded guide through the centuries of architectural achievement. Editor James Stevens Curl is well suited for this job: he is Emeritus Professor of Architectural History and a senior Research Fellow, School of Architecture, De Montfort University in Leicester, England, and he wrote the award-winning The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry. His credentials form a strong foundation of reliability upon which A Dictionary of Architecture is built, making it a solid reference for students and lay readers alike. --Amazon.co.uk
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