In about 40 BCE the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius declared firmitas, utilitas, and venustas--firmness, commodity, and delight--to be the three essential attributes of architecture. These qualities are brilliantly explored in this book, which uniquely comprises both a detailed survey of Western architecture, including Pre-Columbian America, and an introduction to architecture from the Middle East,India, Russia, China, and Japan. Written in a clear and engaging style,the text encourages readers to examine closely in photographs and line drawings the pragmatic, innovative and aesthetic attributes of buildings, and to imagine how these would have been praised or criticised by contemporary observers. Architecture is discussed in various contexts--artistic, economic, environmental, political, social and technological--so as to determine the extent to which buildings met the needs of clients, society at large, and future generations.

This book also examines the unique methods of great architects past and present. Among them are Alvar Aalto, Robert Adam, Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Gustave Eiffel, Peter Eisenman, Antonio Gaudi, Frank Gehry, Walter Gropius, Imhotep, Le Corbusier, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Michelangelo, Glenn Murcutt, Andrea PaUadio,Eero Saarinen, Koca Sinan, Louis Sullivan, Christopher Wren and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The global reach of the text is matched by a rich assortment of photographs from the world over and a greater array of detailed line drawings than can be found in any architectural survey. The authors have created a formidable body of work that ranges over much of the world's architectural heritage and testifies to some of the greatest achievements of the human spirit.

PREFACE  x

MAPS  xi-xvi

INTRODUCTION  1

A Word about Drawings and Images 5

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNINGS OF ARCHITECTURE

Prehistoric Settlements and Megalith Constructions

Eastern Europe 9

  Western Europe 10

Ancient Mesopotamia 14

  Sumerians; Akkadians, and Neo-Sumerians 15

  Babylonians, Hittites, and Assyrians 18

  Neo-Babylonians and Persians 20

Ancient Egypt 22

  Essay: "Hydraulic" Civilizations 23

  The Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom 24

  The First Pyramids 24

  Fourth-Dynasty Pyramids at Giza 27

  The Middle Kingdom 30

  The New Kingdom 31

CHAPTER 2

THE GREEK WORLD   39

The Minoans 39

The Mycenaeans 42

  Mycenae 42

Greece: The Archaic Period 47

Greece: The Classical Period 50

  The Parthenon, Athens 51

  Other Buildings on the Acropolis 53

  Essay: Celebrating Athena's Birthday 54

Greece: The Hellenistic Period 57

Greek City Planning 60

  The Athenian Agora 60

  Hellenistic Cities 62