This highly original and sophisticated look at architecture helps us to understand the cultural significance of the buildings that surround us. It avoids the traditional style-spotting approach in favour of giving an idea of what it is about buildings that moves us, and what it is that makes them
important artistically and culturally. The book begins by looking at how architecture acquires meaning through tradition, and concludes with the exoticism of the recent avant garde. Illustrations of particular buildings help to anchor the general points with specific examples, from ancient Egypt to
the present day.
1. Adding Value: how buildings become architecture
2. Architectural Heritage: how buildings tell us who we are
3. Architectural Canons: how architecture achieves greatness
Further reading
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Andrew Ballantyne qualified and practised as an architect, and then moved into academic work. He has held research and teaching posts at the universities of Sheffield, Bath, and Newcastle, where he is now Professor of Architecture. He has written on architectural history and theory, and his
previous books are Architecture, Landscape and Liberty (CUP, 1997) and What is Architecture? (Routledge, 2002).
