Encyclopedia Of Architectural And Engineering Feats [Hardcover]

Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Featspresents more than 200 achievements in architecture and structural engineering in all the inhabited continents, from prehistory to the present.

An architect once described the built environment as the manifestation of the human spirit in stone, wood, and steel. In this new volume, readers can explore the most innovative and magnificent architectural expressions of the human spirit, from pre-history to the present, from all parts of the world.

Readers can visit the Acropolis and Chartres cathedral, along with less familiar places like the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, once the greatest city in sub-Saharan Africa, and China's 71 meter high, 1,200 year old Grand Buddha, carved from stone. They'll learn the secrets behind audacious engineering feats like the Panama Canal, the U.S. interstate highway system, and the Deltaworks in the Netherlands. They will discover that many of these awe-inspiring projects were not the work of trained architects and engineers, but of underdeveloped communities, where unified will, tight social organization, and shared commitment to a spiritual ideal were more important than the inventions of the Industrial Age.

Donald Langmeadis professor of architectural history at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.

Christine Garnautis research associate in the Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.

[T]his encyclopedia is international in coverage and chronologically vast, and many of the topical essays will not be found in other architectural encyclopedias . . . overall the essays are extremely informative and well written, providing not just architectural details but also social and cultural information to help explain why the building, site, material, or group is important . . . Recommended for most public and academic libararies. Librarl5