architecture: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

General works

John Fleming, Hugh Honour, and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture, 4th ed. (1991), is a general reference work of architectural terminology and biography. Paul Frankl, Principles of Architectural History (1968, reissued 1973; originally published in German, 1914), contains a classic analysis of architectural form, 1400–1900. Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time, and Architecture, 5th ed. (1967, reissued 1982), offers a stimulating survey and justification of modern architecture and its antecedents. Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing Architecture, 2nd ed., trans. from Danish (1962), is a beginner’s guide to architectural appreciation. Julius Schlosser, Die Kunstliteratur (1924, reprinted 1985), comprises a bibliography of theoretical writing up to 1800. Michael Raeburn (ed.), Architecture of the Western World (1980), is an excellent survey. A useful illustrated introduction to the principles of architectural design is Francis D.K. Ching, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order, 3rd ed. (2007).

Use

Architectural types and planning are addressed in Jeffrey Ellis Aronin, Climate & Architecture (1953, reprinted 1973), on the influence of physical environment on planning; Sigfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (1948, reprinted 1969), on the impact of machinery on 19th- and 20th-century building; Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities (1938, reissued 1981), the growth of modern cities seen from a historical and humanitarian viewpoint; Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961, reissued 1993), a pensive critique of modern patterns of urbanization and of the modernist approach to urban architecture; and Amos Rapoport, House Form and Culture (1969), an analysis of basic domestic forms in the light of cultural anthropology.

Techniques

Building methods and techniques are explained in Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization (1934, reissued 1963), a general view of the cultural role of technology; Great Britain, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Principles of Modern Building, 3rd ed., 2 vol. (1959–61), a study of building techniques and materials; Charles G. Ramsey and Harold R. Sleeper, Ramsey/Sleeper Architectural Graphic Standards, 9th ed. edited by John Ray Hoke, Jr. (1994), the practicing designer’s handbook of standards and equipment; and Mario Salvadori and Robert Heller, Structure in Architecture, 3rd ed. (1986), a clear, well-illustrated explanation of structural principles.

Expression and theory

Early works include John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849, reissued 1989), an aesthetic of architecture of the Romantic era allied to ethics; Eugéne Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, Discourses on Architecture, 2 vol. (1889–90, reissued 1959; originally published in French, 1863–72), a premodern architectural theory based on rational construction; and Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture (1914, reissued 1960), the only architectural treatise to survive from antiquity—a book that exerted great influence on Renaissance and later design. Modern studies include Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form (1964, reissued 1971), design calculations for the cybernetic age; and the credos of the three most influential modern architects: Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture (1927, reissued 1986; originally published in French, 1923); Walter Gropius, Scope of Total Architecture (1955, reissued 1970); and Frank Lloyd Wright, Modern Architecture (1931, reprinted 1987). The following are surveys: Peter Collins, Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture, 1750–1950 (1965, reissued 1975), a survey of architectural principles; Paul Frankl, The Gothic: Literary Sources and Interpretations Through Eight Centuries (1960), the medieval style and its survivals through the centuries; Geoffrey Scott, The Architecture of Humanism, 2nd ed., rev. (1924, reissued 1980), combining a critique of 19th-century theory with a psychologically based defense of Baroque design; John Summerson, The Classical Language of Architecture (1963, reissued 1985), on the use of the classical repertoire of motives through the ages; Rudolf Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, 4th ed. (1988), discussing architectural thought in the Renaissance; and Aldo Rossi, The Architecture of the City (1982; originally published in Italian, 1966), addressing architectural and urban theory.

A useful general survey of ornamental forms and designs is Joan Evans, Pattern: A Study of Ornament in Western Europe from 1180 to 1900, 2 vol. (1931, reprinted 1976). Accounts of mimetic ornament and design may be found in E. Baldwin Smith, Egyptian Architecture as Cultural Expression (1938, reissued 1968), The Dome: A Study in the History of Ideas (1950, reissued 1978), and Architectural Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages (1956, reprinted 1978). A theory of ornament as social function is found in Alan Gowans, “The Unchanging Arts of Beautification: Commercial Design and Decoration,” in his The Unchanging Arts (1971). Carole Rifkind, A Field Guide to American Architecture (1980), covers styles, building types, ornamentation, and elements of construction.

Theory and criticism

Leon Battista Alberti, De re aedificatoria (1485), was the first printed book on the theory of architecture; numerous English translations are available, including On the Art of Building in Ten Books (1988). Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, 2nd ed. (1980), is an authoritative study of the theories of architecture developed in the second quarter of the 20th century. Peter Collins, Architectural Judgement (1971), provides a comparative study of decision making in architecture and law. Christian Norberg-Schulz, Intentions in Architecture (1963, reissued 1977), contains an influential study of architectural theory based on linguistics. Howard Robertson, The Principles of Architectural Composition (1924), is a characteristic textbook of the early decades of the 20th century. Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, 2nd ed. (1977), proposes a new theory of architecture based on recent art-historical interpretations of Mannerism and Baroque architecture. Edward R. De Zurko, Origins of Functionalist Theory (1957), is a compendious historical analysis of the relationship between form and function, as conceived by philosophers and architectural theorists. David Watkin, Morality and Architecture (1977, reprinted 1984), makes a spirited attack on modernist and functionalist theories. Roger Scruton, The Aesthetics of Architecture (1979), offers a philosophical exploration of the intellectual questions raised by architecture.

Roger Scruton The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Add new Web site: Open Oregon Educational Resources - Introduction to Architecture - Defining architecture. Jul 22, 2024
Link added Apr 22, 2024
Add new Web site: Art in Context - What is Architecture? – A dive into the world of Architecture in art. Dec 27, 2023
Media added. Nov 07, 2023
Cross-reference added. Oct 27, 2023
Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Architecture. Jun 26, 2023
Add new Web site: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Philosophy of Architecture. Apr 07, 2023
Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Architecture. Dec 03, 2022
Add new Web site: Art Encyclopedia - History of Architecture (3,000 BCE - present). Aug 24, 2022
Corrected display issue. Feb 02, 2021
Media added. Nov 20, 2020
Media added. Jan 09, 2018
Media added. Apr 29, 2016
Added to the bibliography the book Architecture: Form, Space, and Order, 3rd ed. (2007), by Francis D.K. Ching. Oct 11, 2013
Media added. Apr 19, 2013
Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - Architecture. Jan 23, 2013
Add new Web site: Fact Monster - World - Architecture. Nov 29, 2012
Deleted photograph. Jan 11, 2012
Add new Web site: Ancient-Greece.org - Ancient Greece Architecture. Sep 19, 2011
Cross-references to other architecture articles corrected and regularized (titles switched from inverted to uninverted form). Dec 01, 2009
First paragraph revised and updated. Dec 01, 2009
Changed "Bargello" to "Museo del Bargello." May 07, 2009
Media added. May 07, 2009
Added new Web site: Farhangsara.com - Architecture After Islam. Jan 28, 2009
Added new Web site: HistoryWorld - History of Architecture. Jan 28, 2009
Added new Web site: Official Site of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Nov 13, 2008
Added new Web site: Official Site of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Nov 13, 2008
Added new Web site: The Canadian Encyclopedia - Architecture. Oct 03, 2008
Added new Web site: World History Center - Architecture. Oct 25, 2007
Added new Web site: Buffalo Architecture and History - Architects, Illustrated Dictionary, Styles. Feb 20, 2007
Added new Web site: Buffalo Architecture and History - Architects, Illustrated Dictionary, Styles. Feb 20, 2007
Added new Web site: ArchKidecture Architecture for Children. Jul 13, 2006
Added new Web site: Harmony and Proportions - Palladio: The Proportions of Rooms. May 16, 2006
Article revised. Aug 02, 2002
Article revised. Jan 18, 2002
Article revised. Nov 03, 2000
Article revised. Jan 12, 2000
Article added to new online database. Jan 12, 2000
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