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The Visual Dictionary of Buildings (DK Visual Dictionaries)
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About The Visual Dictionary Of Buildings
Product Description A full-color photographic dictionary provides a close-up look at the world of architecture and building construction, with examples ranging from Egyptian temples to modern skyscrapers, presented in dazzling photographs accompanied by charts, diagrams, and plans. From Kirkus Reviews A handsome ``Eyewitness'' book with spreads covering the obvious historical periods and places (ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to ``The Early 20th Century'' and ``Modern Buildings'') plus ``Islamic Buildings,'' ``South and East Asia,'' and such additional topics as ``Walls,'' ``Domes,'' and ``Doors.'' A typical spread includes crisply detailed color photos of a major building, a ruin (serving as a cutaway), or a model (Wren's 1674 proposal for St. Paul's); photos and drawings of decorative and structural details; a brief paragraph overview; and dozens of terms for the architectural elements depicted. As a survey of styles and of the wealth of specialized vocabulary used to describe them, this is a rich source. For knowledgeable readers, it provides hundreds of fine visual examples, many traceable through the index: friezes appear in 11 settings. For those less sophisticated, the visual definition will often not be enough- -e.g., there's no way to tell whether ``fixed light'' refers to part of a window frame, the glass, or the fact that it doesn't open; nor do any of the three depictions of the ``mortise'' and ``tenon'' make it clear that one is a cavity into which the other fits. Some basic ideas are also missing: the Romans' use of the arch is described with no mention of its enormous structural significance. An attractive, often fascinating source, but one that demands a conventional dictionary as a supplement. Index. (Nonfiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
