Product Description

The alliance between architecture and structure and the people who forged it is the topic of this book. The author provides an introduction to building methods from ancient times to the present day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59300 in Books
• Published on: 1991-01-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

Customer Reviews

Another worthy purchase!
Working in the construction industry I was instantly attracted to the title of this book. I found it an excellent 'back to basics' read. The book is written in a non-technical language and will be a fascinating to read to anyone and i mean anyone who has ever gazed at a building and wondered 'Why Buildings Stand up?'

Good in parts
This book presents itself as an introduction to the development of structural engineering for the layman and the areas that it covers it covers well. However there are massive gaps! For example, why is there no mention of portal frames? What about the progression from cruck frames to hammer beam roofs to the roof trusses we use today? How can you talk about the history of structural engineering without once mentioning the contributions of I K Brunel?

Also I fail to see why line drawings are used when photographs of complete buildings would convey so much more information.

Finally a lot of the space that could be used to cover some of the gaps mentioned above is inexcusably filled with pretentious architect's twaddle! There is even a whole chapter devoted to the "semiotic messages of structure". If someone MUST talk about such things it should be in a book about architecture but this is supposed to be a book about structural engineering and as such it is totally out of place.