Architecture

Name: Architecture
Brand: Harper UK
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3 (2 reviews)
Author: Dan Cruickshank
ISBN: 9780008363048

Author: Dan Cruickshank

Narrator: Dan Cruickshank

Unabridged: 11 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: William Collins

Published: 04/09/2020

Categories: Nonfiction, Architecture

Synopsis

This stunning book by renowned television historian Dan Cruickshank tells the history of architecture through the stories of 100 iconic buildings. Journeying through time and place, from the ancient Egyptian pyramids to the soaring skyscrapers of Manhattan, renowned architectural historian Dan Cruickshank explores the most impressive and characterful creations in world architecture. His selection includes many of the world’s best-known buildings that represent key or pioneering moments in architectural history, such as the Pantheon in Rome, Hagia Sophia in Turkey, the Taj Mahal in India and the Forbidden City in China. But the book also covers less obvious and more surprising structures, the generally unsung heroes of an endlessly fascinating story. Buildings like Oriel Chambers in Liverpool and the Narkomfin Apartment Building in Moscow. Dan Cruickshank has visited nearly all the buildings in the book, many in locations that are now inaccessible and under serious threat. A History of Architecture in 100 Buildings is an eloquent and often moving testimony to the power of great architecture to shape, and be shaped by, world history.

About Dan Cruickshank

Dan Cruickshank is a regular presenter on the BBC best known for his popular BBC Two series THE BEST BUILDINGS OF BRITAIN and WHAT THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DID FOR US. He is one of Britain's leading architectural and historic building experts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Noura on November 10, 2017

a wonderful piece. It's well written, interesting, and contains fabulous photographs. The books breaks up the 100 buildings by grouping them in the following categories; Pioneers, Rhetoric, Sacred, Urban Visions, Big and Beautiful, Material Matters, and Lost and Found. Each group contains a short ent......more

Goodreads review by Eleanor on April 20, 2019

This is the first book I have read on architecture (my interest being sparked by the fire at Notre Dame) and I have to say it has really taught me a lot! Thanks to this book I now know about the different types of architecture, from gothic and sacred buildings to the modern and green. I also now und......more

Goodreads review by HP Saucerer on May 21, 2019

A fascinating and eloquently written testimony to the power of great architecture to shape, and be shaped by, history. A highly accessible read with a diverse selection of buildings from six continents, spanning over two-millennia; my only gripe being that I felt there weren’t nearly enough photogra......more

Goodreads review by Christina on May 26, 2016

Interesting selection of buildings and styles to discuss. I would have liked even more pictures.......more

Goodreads review by Lucy on July 10, 2022

From the Step Pyramid in Egypt to Rozak House, built in Australia in 2002, this book covers lots of architecture from the ancient world to the modern, both well-known and more obscure. He even includes a couple of Soviet-era buildings that are in bad shape because the current administrations don't l......more

Quotes

Praise for Dan Cruickshank: ‘Beneath the jocular surface lies an entirely serious expertise. The breadth of Cruickshank's knowledge and the very speed of his journey enables him to make striking connections between apparently unrelated cultures … illuminating … inspirational’ Guardian ‘A colossal melting pot of a book: ambitious, rigorously researched, vigorously narrated and marvellously illustrated. All of life is here, but not as we know it’ Sunday Times ‘Fascinating … a lively and scholarly panorama’ Daily Mail