This book makes visible the axes along which architectural knowledge circulates through books into buildings and back.

Blier illuminates the extraordinary architecture of the Batammaliba people of Western Africa, revealing these buildings as texts through which we can read the beliefs, psychology, traditions, and social concerns of their inhabitants. In doing so, she explores the role of vernacular architecture as an expression of culture. "A splendid analysis of the centrality of architecture in the daily lives of the Batammaliba and its integral role in articulating social values....The story is beautifully told in the best of anthropological traditions."—Judith R. Blau, Contemporary Society "A remarkable study....Blier's volume carries the study of African architecture to a qualitatively new level of scholarship. It introduces a new dimension whereby the architectural medium can be used to illuminate much of the entire belief system of any culture."—Labelle Prussin, African Arts "In this excellent book Blier provides a richly detailed and searching account of what architecture means to the Batammaliba of northern Togo and Benin....The finest account I have yet read of the relations between systems of beliefs, ritual practices, and African aesthetics and plastic arts....The ethnography and basic insight should be the envy of any social anthropologist."—T.O. Beidelman, Man

Examines the great architectural styles, the background to their evolutions, and the means by which the buildings within them were achieved. The many superb pieces of specially commissioned cut-away artwork, researched with the aid of computer techniques, provide an intriguing and informative study of the world's greatest structures from the Great Pyramid of Cheops to examples of modern architectural styles, and, together with the clear and informative text, make this a fascinating book for both expert and layman.--From publisher description.

DIVAnatomy of Design dissects fifty examples of graphic design piece by piece, revealing an array of influences and inspirations. These pieces represent contemporary artifacts that are well conceived, finely crafted, and filled with hidden treasures. Some are overtly complex. Others are so simple that it is hard to believe there’s a storehouse of inspiration hidden underneath. The selections include all kinds of design work including posters, packages, and more. Each exhibit is selected for its ubiquity, thematic import, and aesthetic significance, and every page shows howgreat work is derived from various inspirational and physical sources, some well-known, some unknown./div

This ultimate renovation guide identifies hundreds of parts of a house to help home owners understand the elements of construction, decorative detail and convey ideas to suppliers, contractors, or designers. B & W illustrations throughout.

Taking inspiration from Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists and Harold Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence, this book elucidates the theory and practice of a selected group of key Japanese architects by situating them within a wider cultural context of art, technology, literature, and politics. Illustrated with rarely seen images and interspersed with previously untranslated texts, the book uses biographical profiles and comparative analyses to trace the evolution of spatial, aesthetic, and behavioral concepts in Japanese architecture over the postwar decades. In particular, the political activism of architects in the 1960s and the social criticism of architects in the 1970s provide a vital source of inspiration for the protean creativity of the Japanese architectural world today.

A gorgeous graphic tour of the inner workings of skyscrapers—from the author of The Works Indispensable and unforgettable, The Heights is the ultimate guide to the way skyscrapers work—from the bases of their foundations to the peaks of their spires. With skyscrapers becoming essential elements of urban life, there has never been a greater need for understanding and embracing these complex structures. Using innovative illustrations to tackle the vast complexity of these buildings, The Heights explores with remarkable insight every aspect of designing, building, and maintaining a modern skyscraper, as well as the individuals who build and maintain these architectural cathedrals. In the process, The Heights provides a remarkable snapshot of urban life at the dawn of the twenty-first century.