Konstantin Melnikov (1890-1974) is unquestionably one of the outstanding architects of the 20th century - in spite of the fact that he fell silent early, leaving behind only limited work that was insufficiently publicised, and restricted almost exclusively to Moscow, the city of his birth in which he spent nearly his entire life. In the late ......
The juxtapositions of Zaha Hadids architectural models and drawings and Judith Turners photographs of the architects buildings in this volume reveal that Hadid and Turner are complicit. There is a clear agreement of sensibilities. Each understands the other. Hadid does not design with complete geometries in stable con-figurations, but designs ......
Exotic Buildings of the 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe
In the eighteenth century the idea of the landscape garden spread all over Europe. At the same time the garden became the land of illusion: Chinese pagodas, Egyptian tombs and Turkish mosques, along with Gothic stables and Greek and Roman temples, formed a miniature world in which distance mingled with the past. The keen interest in a fairy-tale ......
The building of the National Library of Latvia is a landmark of the capital city of Riga, a spatial symbol and architectural icon, created by one of the 20th century renowned modernists-the Latvian-born American architect Gunnar Birkerts. It is one of the largest cultural buildings in Northern Europe in the 21st century and acquired a symbolic and ......
This book examines the application of the principle of layering in architecture, its mechanics, possible application and meaning. Layering is widely used in the discussions of the 20th and 21st centuries architecture but rarely defined or examined. Layering bridges the tectonics of structure and skin, offers a system for the creation of different ......
A Plea for Improving Rural Domestic Building in Asia & Africa
Early nomadic shelters, including caves, animal skin tents, and igloos, were used for protection against wind, rain, snow, sunlight, and other forces of nature. These basic homes also provided defence against predators and were used to store a few important possessions. They were temporary, and proximity to a water source was of prime importance. ......
The regions of Europe have an architectural heritage that is a thousand years old; and it is a challenge to integrate this heritage into contemporary life in a sustainable way. This book presents examples to demonstrate a desire to be considered as "local" projects and to take their place in an evolutionary interpretation of history.
Provides information about the royal castle at Neuschwanstein, which is visited by one and a half million people per year. But for the architecturally educated, for adepts of Modernism, this stylistically crude, anachronistic monument to a prince's whim is simply annoying.
There is no doubt that Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is one of the most spectacular buildings of recent years. It is both the heart of the city and a tested for the arts, representing both public presence and artistic change.
