Most people recognize at a glance the extraordinarily graceful proportions of classical-style buildings such as London's Syon House and Athenaeum Club and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall. Few, however, appreciate the underlying geometrical principles that lend these buildings their elegant unity of expression. Form and Design in Classic Architecture explains in simple, direct terms — and with numerous photographic plates and line illustrations — the ways in which the relationship of exterior and interior elements creates that unity and sense of completeness. Dozens of edifices by Inigo Jones, the Adam Brothers, Sir Christopher Wren, and other renowned architects appear here, in images accompanied by detailed analyses. The author presents a chapter-by-chapter view of buildings in a variety of shapes, with separate treatments of vestibules, corridors, domed and vaulted ceilings, pavilions, loggias, interior and exterior staircases, porticoes, and colonnades. The informative, readable text and handsome illustrations — as well as the sheer beauty of the buildings themselves — make this volume appealing, not only to architects and architectural historians but also to anyone with even a casual interest in architecture and design.
"This book aims to initiate all who are concerned with the design of buildings into first principles of arrangement, irrespective of style, period or fashion, and its scope is deliberately focussed on the most elementary of known forms. The culminating periods of Greek and Roman architecture have here been drawn upon as well as the whole range of matured Renaissance architecture in Europe, and the book has been compiled not only from actual buildings but also from the wider field of projected designs. In the illustrations, all the buildings and motifs are presented in their simplest aspect, free from confusing detail, so that the main lines of the various schemes can be understood at a glance and the different forms compared."--BOOK JACKET.
A superb visual reference to the principles of architecture Now including interactive CD-ROM! For more than thirty years, the beautifully illustrated Architecture: Form, Space, and Order has been the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. The updated Third Edition features expanded sections on circulation, light, views, and site context, along with new considerations of environmental factors, building codes, and contemporary examples of form, space, and order. This classic visual reference helps both students and practicing architects understand the basic vocabulary of architectural design by examining how form and space are ordered in the built environment.? Using his trademark meticulous drawing, Professor Ching shows the relationship between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultural boundaries. By looking at these seminal ideas, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order encourages the reader to look critically at the built environment and promotes a more evocative understanding of architecture. In addition to updates to content and many of the illustrations, this new edition includes a companion CD-ROM that brings the book's architectural concepts to life through three-dimensional models and animations created by Professor Ching.
This book's format is tutorial based. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the book and its goals. Each chapter following this presents a series of tutorial lessons : Understanding the Revit family editor ; Scaling and proportion ; Constraining curves ; The Tuscan base, capital and pedestal ; Completing the Tuscan order ; Managing graphics ; The Doric column ; The Doric entablature ; The Ionic order ; The massing environment ; The column shaft ; The Corinthian capital ; File management techniques (Extr. préface)
More than a decade in the making, this is a textbook of architecture, useful for every architect: from first-year students, to those taking senior design studio, to graduate students writing a Ph.D. dissertation in architectural theory, to experienced practicing architects. It is very carefully written so that it can be read even by the beginning architecture student. The information contained here is a veritable gold mine of design techniques. This book teaches the reader how to design by adapting to human needs and sensibilities, yet independently of any particular style. Here is a unification of genuine architectural knowledge that brings a new clarity to the discipline. It explains much of what people instinctively know about architecture, and puts that knowledge for the first time in a concise, understandable form. Dr. Salingaros has experience in the organization of the built environment that few practicing architects have. The later chapters of this new book touch on very sensitive topics: what drives architects to produce the forms they build; and why architects use only a very restricted visual vocabulary. Is it personal inventiveness, or is it something more, which perhaps they are not even aware of? There has not been such a book treating the very essence of architecture. The only other author who is capable of raising a similar degree of passion (and controversy) is Christopher Alexander, who happens to be Dr. Salingaros’ friend and architectural mentor. “Surely no voice is more thought-provoking than that of this intriguing, perhaps historically important, new thinker?” From the Preface by His Royal Highness, Charles, The Prince of Wales “A New Vitruvius for 21st-Century Architecture and Urbanism?” Dr. Ashraf SalamaChair, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar “Architecture, Salingaros argues, is governed by universal and intuitively understood principles, which have been exemplified by all successful styles and in all civilizations that have left a record of themselves in their buildings. The solution is not to return to the classical styles… the solution is to return to first principles and build within their constraints… ” Dr. Roger Scruton Philosopher, London, UK “A fundamental text, among the most significant of the past several years.” Dr. Vilma Torselli Architect and Author, Milan, Italy “A Theory of Architecture demonstrates how mathematics and the social sciences offer keys to designing a humane architecture. In this brilliant tome Salingaros explains why many modern buildings are neither beautiful nor harmonious and, alternatively, how architects and patrons can employ scale, materials and mathematical logic to design structures which are exciting, nourishing, and visually delightful.” Duncan G. Stroik Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, Indiana “Salingaros explores ways to clarify and formalize our understanding of aesthetic forms in the built environment, using mathematics, thermodynamics, Darwinism, complexity theory and cognitive sciences. Salingaros’ remarkable observations suggest that concepts of complexity and scale can someday provide a full-bodied explanation for both the practice and the appreciation of architecture.” Kim Sorvig Architecture & Planning, University of New Mexico See this book’s Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Theory_of_Architecture Nikos A. Salingaros is an internationally known urbanist and architectural theorist who has studied the scientific bases underlying architecture for thirty years. Utne Reader ranked him as “One of 50 visionaries who are changing your world”, and Planetizen as 11th among “The top 100 urban thinkers of all time”. He is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Well arranged, logical, and aptly illustrated, this classic survey covers every aspect of the design process. It addresses architectural principles as well as their practical application, examining general questions of scale, balance, proportion, and symmetry and presenting detailed treatments of doors, windows, walls, stairways, columns, and other features. Long acknowledged as a valuable resource for students and teachers alike, this volume is unsurpassed in terms of the richness of its material and the consistency of its insights. It was written by Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis, an influential designer and artist who served as the head of the Tulane School of Architecture. Curtis illustrated his work with nearly 250 line drawings that depict architectural elements from a splendid variety of periods and settings, from ancient Rome's temples and palaces to modern-day hotels and museums of Paris and New York.
For those interested in contemporary permutations of neo-classical architecture, this volume offers a photo essay of the work of 14 architectural firms. Among them are Robert Adam Architects Ltd, Norman Davenport Askins, John Blatteau Associates, Fairfax & Sammons, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Michael G. Imber, and Porphyrios Associates. The build
"Classical Greek Architecture is a definitive account of classical architecture, its influences, and its significance for the structures of today from leading scholar Alexander Tzonis. The work contains a wealth of contemporary and vintage photographs from major archives that, together with numerous line drawings of the monuments and sites of Ancient Greece, provide a breath-taking introduction to visual thinking and architectural culture".--BOOKJACKET.
