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Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture
by Mario G. Salvadori
Paperback Reissue edition (June 1994)
W.W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393306763
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Book Description
Between a nomad's tent and the Sears Tower lies a revolution in technology, materials, and structures. Here is a clear and enthusiastic introduction to building methods from ancient times to the present day. B/W line drawings.
Customer Reviews
Parts you slog through, parts you gobble, December 21, 1999
Reviewer: Louise Dana from Kalamazoo, Michigan
Salvadori clearly explains, with the invaluable aid of lots of little pictures, how and why buildings stand up. There are chapters on cathedrals, the Eiffel Tower, the Hagia Sophia, bridges, domes, and so forth. The chapter on wind is particularly fascinating -- I found out a lot of things I'd had no idea of. Other chapters, like "Form-Resistant Structures," were pretty deadly dull. Overall, though, the book was well worth reading. It's not always entertaining, but it's always informative, and sometimes tremendously interesting.
I loved it., September 9, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Canada
The author's love for the art, science, and engineering of building shines through on every page. If you haven't already you, will soon become fascinated by all that is involved in architeture in this wonderfully written book.
Why do buildings keep standing up?, June 10, 2004
Reviewer: M. Buisman (Amstelveen, The Netherlands)
This book was recommended to me by my architecture professor and it is well worth reading. Without going into too much physics the author explains clearly the importance of forces like wind on structures like bridges, skyscrapers, domes etc. To illustrate these infuences there are chapters on some of the architectural wonders of the world: Eiffel Tower, Pyramids, Brooklyn Bridge and Aya Sofia to name but a few.
There are no photographs in this book but crudely drawn pictures, which actually makes the reader understand the concepts better.
If you like buildings and architecture in general this book is instrumental in the understandings of why buildings stand up.
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