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.