Architecture For Dummies

Foreword. Introduction. Part I: Knowing and Appreciating Architecture. Chapter 1: Knowing When a Building Is Just a Building and When It's Architecture. Chapter 2: How to Look at a Building. Chapter 3: Building Your Architectural Vocabulary. Part II: Nuts and Bolts: Looking at How Architecture Is Designed and Built. Chapter 4: How Buildings Are Born. Chapter 5: Just What Do Architects Do, Anyway? Chapter 6: A Simple Structure: How Buildings Stand Up. Part III: Western Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures. Chapter 7: Gimme Shelter: Prehistoric Structures and the Ancient World. Chapter 8: Acropolis Now: Classical Greece and Rome. Chapter 9: Domes, Arches, and Vaults, Oh My: Byzantine and Medieval Architecture. Chapter 10: Beauty Meets Mathematics and Drama: From Renaissance to Rococo. Chapter 11: Revivals Everywhere: The Classical and Gothic Are New Again. Chapter 12: Here Comes the Industrial Age: Prefab Is Here to Stay. Chapter 13 Flying High and Close to the Sun: Skyscrapers! Chapter 14: Mother Nature versus the Machines: Modern Styles. Chapter 15: The Only Constant Is Change: From Modern Purism to Postmodern Pluralism. Part IV: Eastern Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures. Chapter 16: China and Japan: Traditions in Wood. Chapter 17: More Than the Taj Mahal: Architecture in India. Chapter 18: The Islamic World. Part V: Arranging the Present and Saving the Past. Chapter 19: Understanding Urban Design. Chapter 20: Historic Preservation: Saving the Past for the Future. Part VI: The Part of Tens. Chapter 21: The Ten Most Fascinating Architects Working Today. Chapter 22: Ten Architectural Masterpieces. Chapter 23: Ten Amazing Items of Trivia That'll Impress All Your Friends! Chapter 24: The Top Ten Skyscrapers. Index.