WILL PRYCE

A brilliantly illustrated survey of the colossal and highly engineered structures that have become landmarks around the world.Exhibition centers and sports arenas, factories and warehouses, airports and railway stations, modern museums and concert halls—Big Sheds are at the heart of the modern world. Yet despite their ubiquity and the challenges they present to architects, the story of this branch of architecture has not been told.This book features work by leading architects such as Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, Daniel Libeskind, and Toyo Ito in a geographically diverse set of locations and settings. From the urban demands of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to the heroic engineering of Kansai Airport in Japan, each of these monumental buildings tests the ingenuity of architects and engineers.Following an introduction to the origins of the Big Shed in nineteenth-century greenhouses and railway architecture, the book is organized into chapters according to the function of the building, ranging from the simplest Big Shed, the exhibition center, to modern museums and concert halls.Featuring dramatic, specially commissioned photographs by Will Pryce plus detailed technical drawings, the book will inform, delight, and inspire architects, architectural students, and anyone who marvels at these feats of modern engineering. 300 illustrations, 250 in color.

Velmi populární, přístupný, mezinárodní přehled. Kniha představuje na 350 fotografiích nejkrásnější stavby světa z celé historie civilizace. Obsahuje jak obecně velmi populární stavby, tak i méně známé skvosty. Text v angličtině. What makes a great building? This is a question that has preoccupied architects, critics and travellers alike for centuries. Despite the rich variety of buildings around the world, no fully illustrated, specially photographed survey of the greats has been attempted until now. In this title, a world of beauty and genius is unveiled in over 350 photographs which take you on an epic journey celebrating the finest examples of architecture from over 2,000 years of civilization. Deftly splitting the history of architecture into two parts at AD 1500, World Architecture: The Masterworks contains over 80 buildings, over 40 of which are featured in detailed photo essays. Will Pryces texts provide an extra dimension of understanding for the contexts, peoples and evolution of architectural history.

Nádherná a výjimečná kniha o architektuře. Obsahuje přes 350 barevných fotografií. Rozděluje historii stavitelství na dvě části s předělem v roce 1500 a obsahuje přes 80 staveb, z nichž více než 40 je věnována zvláštní pozornost s detailními fotografickými záběry. Doprovodné texty Willa Pryceho usnadňují porozumění souvislostem, národním rysům a vývoji architektonické historie

Wood has unique qualities, yet is undervalued or ignored in histories of architecture. However, leading designers around the world are increasingly drawn to it to satisfy social and environmental needs. Will Pryce, the most admired architectural photographer in Britain, has travelled the world seeking both famous and obscure buildings in wood. Intensely dramatic but not over-dramatized, technically flawless, but not merely documentary, his photographs convey all the excitement of encountering these amazing structures first hand. In the substantial text he shows how the wooden heritage of Japan grew from its Buddhist history; how Russia's carpenters determined its iconic domes; how Norway's stave churches contain clues to her pagan past; how Turkic tribes brought the yali from Asia; how the settlers of New England would use a provincial English tradition on the new continent; and how, today, sophisticated architects such as Peter Zumthor and Renzo Piano are inventing an eloquent new wooden architecture.