Architecture: A Historical Perspective

Elucidating the history of world architecture--from the pyramids of Egypt and the temples of Greece to the ecological architecture of today--for both student and general readership, this ambitious book presents key buildings and styles in a passionate and engaged style. Pavlos Lefas (author of Dwelling and Architecture) emphasizes the contemporary applications of past architectural practices worldwide, thematizing his chronology into such topics as architecture and mathematics, scale, utopia, minimalism, grids, tall buildings and landscape architecture. Among the examples examined are the Terra Amata huts, the pyramids of Giza, the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the Acropolis of Athens, Roman aqueducts, Angkor Wat, The Alhambra, the Forbidden City, the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, Sant’ Andrea in Mantua, The Rock Garden of Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, the Villa Rotonda, the Great Wall of China, the Masjed-e Shah in Isfahan and various modernist and contemporary buildings from Le Corbusier’s UN Headquarters to Freshkills Park in New York.