Experiencing Architecture, second edition

Experiencing Architecture, second edition

Author: Steen Eiler Rasmussen

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1964-03-15

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780262680028

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A classic examination of superb design through the centuries. Widely regarded as a classic in the field, Experiencing Architecture explores the history and promise of good design. Generously illustrated with historical examples of designing excellence—ranging from teacups, riding boots, and golf balls to the villas of Palladio and the fish-feeding pavilion of Beijing's Winter Palace—Rasmussen's accessible guide invites us to appreciate architecture not only as a profession, but as an art that shapes everyday experience. In the past, Rasmussen argues, architecture was not just an individual pursuit, but a community undertaking. Dwellings were built with a natural feeling for place, materials and use, resulting in “a remarkably suitable comeliness.” While we cannot return to a former age, Rasmussen notes, we can still design spaces that are beautiful and useful by seeking to understand architecture as an art form that must be experienced. An understanding of good design comes not only from one's professional experience of architecture as an abstract, individual pursuit, but also from one's shared, everyday experience of architecture in real time—its particular use of light, color, shape, scale, texture, rhythm and sound. Experiencing Architecture reminds us of what good architectural design has accomplished over time, what it can accomplish still, and why it is worth pursuing. Wide-ranging and approachable, it is for anyone who has ever wondered “what instrument the architect plays on.”


Symmetry through the Eyes of a Chemist

Symmetry through the Eyes of a Chemist

Author: Magdolna Hargittai

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-02-28

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 1402056281

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It is gratifying to launch the third edition of our book. Its coming to life testi?es about the task it has ful?lled in the service of the com- nity of chemical research and learning. As we noted in the Prefaces to the ?rst and second editions, our book surveys chemistry from the point of view of symmetry. We present many examples from ch- istry as well as from other ?elds to emphasize the unifying nature of the symmetry concept. Our aim has been to provide aesthetic pl- sure in addition to learning experience. In our ?rst Preface we paid tribute to two books in particular from which we learned a great deal; they have in?uenced signi?cantly our approach to the subject matter of our book. They are Weyl’s classic, Symmetry, and Shubnikov and Koptsik’s Symmetry in Science and Art. The structure of our book has not changed. Following the Int- duction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 presents the simplest symmetries using chemical and non-chemical examples. Molecular geometry is discussed in Chapter 3. The next four chapters present gro- theoretical methods (Chapter 4) and, based on them, discussions of molecular vibrations (Chapter 5), electronic structures (Chapter 6), and chemical reactions (Chapter 7). For the last two chapters we return to a qualitative treatment and introduce space-group sym- tries (Chapter 8), concluding with crystal structures (Chapter 9). For the third edition we have further revised and streamlined our text and renewed the illustrative material.


Architecture

Architecture

Author: Francis D. K. Ching

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-07-16

Total Pages: 1784

ISBN-13: 1118004825

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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.


Symmetry

Symmetry

Author: István Hargittai

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2014-05-23

Total Pages: 1068

ISBN-13: 1483149528

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International Series in Modern Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Volume 10: Symmetry: Unifying Human Understanding provides a tremendous scope of "symmetry, covering subjects from fractals through court dances to crystallography and literature. This book discusses the limits of perfection, symmetry as an aesthetic factor, extension of the Neumann-Minnigerode-Curie principle, and symmetry of point imperfections in solids. The symmetry rules for chemical reactions, matching and symmetry of graphs, mosaic patterns of H. J. Woods, and bilateral symmetry in insects are also elaborated. This text likewise covers the crystallographic patterns, Milton's mathematical symbol of theodicy, symmetries of soap films, and gapon formalism. This volume is a good source for researchers and specialists concerned with symmetry.


The Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio

Author: Mario Livio

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2008-11-12

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0307485528

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Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market! The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.


Dynamic Symmetry - The Greek Vase

Dynamic Symmetry - The Greek Vase

Author: Jay Hambidge

Publisher: Jepson Press

Published: 2009-12

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1444688707

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Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.


Symmetry through the Eyes of a Chemist

Symmetry through the Eyes of a Chemist

Author: Istvan Hargittai

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-08-29

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 0585312346

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We have been gratified by the warm reception of our book, by reviewers, colleagues, and students alike. Our interest in the subject matter of this book has not decreased since its first appearance; on the contrary. The first and second editions envelop eight other symmetry-related books in the creation of which we have participated: I. Hargittai (ed.), Symmetry: Unifying Human Understanding, Pergamon Press, New York, 1986. I. Hargittai and B. K. Vainshtein (eds.), Crystal Symmetries. Shubnikov Centennial Papers, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1988. M. Hargittai and I. Hargittai, Fedezziikf6l a szimmetri6t! (Discover Sym- try, in Hungarian), Tank6nyvkiad6, Budapest, 1989. I. Hargittai (ed.), Symmetry 2: Unifying Human Understanding, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989. I. Hargittai (ed.), Quasicrystals, Networks, and Molecules of Fivefold Sym- try, VCH, New York, 1990. I. Hargittai (ed.), Fivefold Symmetry, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992. I. Hargittai and C. A. Pickover (eds.), Spiral Symmetry, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992. I. Hargittai and M. Hargittai, Symmetry: A Unifying Concept, Shelter Publi- tions, Bolinas, California, 1994. We have also pursued our molecular structure research, and some books have appeared related to these activities: vi Preface to the Second Edition I. Hargittai and M. Hargittai (eds.), Stereochemical Applications of Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction, Parts A and B, VCH, New York, 1988. R. Gillespie and I. Hargittai, VSEPR Model of Molecular Geometry, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1991. A. Domenicano and I. Hargittai (eds.), Accurate Molecular Structures, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992.