Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, Second Edition by Leland Roth

Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaningby Anonymous

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February 20, 2008: As Marion Dean Ross Professor of Architectural History at the University of Oregon at Eugene, Leland M. Roth summarized his research and experience in ?Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, And Meaning.? Having done extensive graduate studies in architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning, I always find the history and meaning of architecture, gardens and places fascinating. ?Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, And Meaning? is a feast for people like me. It is separated into 2 parts. Part I covers elements of architecture including ?Commoditie? (Function), ?Firmeness? (Structure), ?Delight? (Space, Acoustic and Aesthetic), architecture as part of natural environment, architecture, memory and economics. Part II covers history and meaning of Western architecture from the dawn of the civilization to present, including ?from caves to cities,? the architecture of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, Greek architecture, Roman architecture, Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Medieval architecture, Renaissance architecture, Baroque and Rococo architecture, the origin and development and versions of Modernism, and various schools of Postmodernism. ?Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, And Meaning? has 652 pages and many line drawings and good interior black-and-white photos. It is a valuable survey of Western architecture from the dawn of the civilization to present.