Mark: Architectural Technology Up To The Scientific Revolution: The Art & Structure Of Large Scale Buildings (cloth): The Art and Structure of Large-scale Buildings (New Liberal Arts) - Hardcover

Mark, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262132877 ISBN 13: 9780262132879

Publisher: MIT Press, 1993

Synopsis

The technological side of architecture is an interesting yet often overlooked aspect of architectural history. This collaborative volume by architectural historians and research engineers provides fresh insights into the early builders' art. It examines innovative structures in eras that saw the development of new, large-scale building types and describes the modern scientific tools for clarifying the technological circumstances and the design techniques employed by pre-Enlightenment builders. Specific chapters examine structural components, such as soils and foundations; walls and other masonry; vertical elements such as piers, arches, and buttresses; masonry domes and vaults; and timber roofs and spires. The most generally taught western monuments ranging from ancient Greece to the scientific revolution are then re-examined in the light of this information. The concluding chapter summarizes the overall pattern of pre-scientific building design, pointing up some of the reasons for its remarkable record of success, and discusses the displacement of the craftsman-master builder by the artist-architect, with a most important and surprising consequence of this transformation.

About this title

Review

"It is astonishing how many architectural history books studiously avoid the question of how buildings are put together.... The illustrations are excellent and there are inserts to help explain fundamental structural concepts."--"The Architects' Journal"

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262132877
• ISBN 13: 9780262132879
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 270