Cambridge Architecture: A Concise Guide

Ray, Nicholas

ISBN 10: 0521458552 / ISBN 13: 9780521458559

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1994

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing. Seller Inventory # BSM.FNZU

Bibliographic Details

Title: Cambridge Architecture: A Concise Guide

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 1994

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis:

Cambridge Architecture offers a brief, illustrated introduction to the architecture of Cambridge, using selected examples of buildings from the Middle Ages to the present day as the basis for an investigation into architecture itself. The author describes the way in which buildings are composed, and how they may in turn be 'read', and introduces a number of levels of interpretation to those who may be unfamiliar with looking at buildings. Issues of iconography, questions of ethics, and the ways in which architecture may mirror society or indicate significant changes of taste are all touched upon. The examples chosen are treated chronologically, but with frequent cross-referencing. Each chapter contains a map, locating the examples discussed, and notes for further reading. The book is aimed at anyone interested in the history of architecture, and assumes no previous technical knowledge of the subject.

Review:

"This lucid, if terse, summary of a large topic is an intelligent study by a lecturer in the Departrment of Architecture in the University of Cambridge. He clearly knows the college buildings inside out...he provides full bibliographical details and much unusual information....It is difficult to be free of prejudice when discussing post-war Cambridge buildings, many of them painful examples of the New Brutalism, but Nicholas Ray makes a valiant attempt." Times Literary Supplement