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Product Description
Product Description
Here is a clear and enthusiastic introduction to building methods fromancient time to the present day, illustrated throughout with linedrawings. In addition, Mr. Salvadori discusses recent advances inscience and technology that have had important effects on the planningand construction of buildings.
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First Sentence
Compared to other human activities, architecture is a young art that had its beginnings only 10,000 years ago when men and women, having discovered agriculture and husbandry, were able to give up roaming the surface of the earth in search of food. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Compared to other human activities, architecture is a young art that had its beginnings only 10,000 years ago when men and women, having discovered agriculture and husbandry, were able to give up roaming the surface of the earth in search of food. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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?'
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
22 reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Parts you slog through, parts you gobble
21 Dec 1999
Format:Paperback
Salvadori clearly explains, with the invaluable aid of lots of little pictures, how and why buildings stand up. There are chapters on cathedrals, the Eiffel Tower, the Hagia Sophia, bridges, domes, and so forth. The chapter on wind is particularly fascinating--I found out a lot of things I'd had no idea of. Other chapters, like "Form-Resistant Structures," were pretty deadly dull. Overall, though, the book was well worth reading. It's not always entertaining, but it's always informative, and sometimes tremendously interesting.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
clear and understandable
26 Nov 2001
Format:Paperback
This is a book that sums-up alot of material about loads, properties of building materials, beams and columns, and translates it into the strength of modern structures. I found the book fascinating and it answered many questions, among them why the height vs base of the pyramids automatically contain the value of PI. This book discussed the anchoring of todays skyscrapers and large structures. This is a book that explains where the forces and loads are projected and how they are contained and countered without getting into the mathematical aspect of it. This author did an excellent job in conveying
the logic behind structural engineering. Well done.
the logic behind structural engineering. Well done.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Why do buildings keep standing up?
10 Jun 2004
Format:Paperback
This book was recommended to me by my architecture professor and it is well worth reading. Without going into too much physics the author explains clearly the importance of forces like wind on structures like bridges, skyscrapers, domes etc. To illustrate these infuences there are chapters on some of the architectural wonders of the world: Eiffel Tower, Pyramids, Brooklyn Bridge and Aya Sofia to name but a few.
There are no photographs in this book but crudely drawn pictures, which actually makes the reader understand the concepts better.
If you like buildings and architecture in general this book is instrumental in the understandings of why buildings stand up.
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