A Global History of Architecture ISBN: 9781118981610 Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated Digital rights:Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time Subjects: Architecture;
Unabashedly huge in its proportions, this book differs from the standard architecture survey in that it doesn't approach the topic from a Western perspective, but rather, as the title indicates, through a global lens. This bodes well for its success as a textbook, but will also please the casual reader. Chronologically organized, the work spans the globe within each time period, occasionally taking time to discuss certain styles and major historical periods, but devoting most of its space to specific architectural works. This chronological organization keeps the book from feeling divided geographically, and maintains a diverse view without manic overextension-a look at the palace at New Delhi is followed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund, which is followed by the Hollyhock House in Los Angeles. Throughout, the authors make connections that have rarely been explored ("An important influence on European architecture in the west came from the direction of Armenia"). The book disseminates textbook amounts of need-to-know information, but it does so clearly-more like a down-to-earth conversation than a grad-school dissertation. A practicing architect and two academics, respectively, Ching, Jarzombek and Prakash aren't afraid to get into the meaning and emotion behind the architecture, addressing its passionate, intangible aspects, as in their discussion of irony's place in postmodern design. That personal and phenomenological angle, along with the book's giant scope, makes it a strong addition to the field, an example of successfully going macro without getting muddled. 1000 b & w photos, 50 color photos, 1500 b & w illustrations. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Francis D.K. Ching graduated cum laude with a five-year professional degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1966. His accomplishments included instructing at Ohio University and Cornish College of the Arts, teaching as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lecturing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was a visiting scholar at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He has been a professor of architecture at the University of Washington since 1992.
Ching's published works including Architecture: Form, Space, & Order, A Visual Dictionary of Architecture, and Interior Design Illustrated, focus on clarifying and communicating architectural element, principles, and relationships. Ching earned a Citation for Excellence in International Book Publishing in 1992, and two years later he was honored with the Graham Foundation Grant to develop a two-volume reader for Design Drawing.
