Customer Reviews

Classical Orders of Architecture

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

An excellent source of information - in richly illustrated detail - of the Greek and Roman orders of architecture, including not just the columns, plinth and pediments, but complete building facades, plans and how the porportions of the order relate to these elements as well. In addition, the author includes examples by famous architects or of famous buildings showing how the order was interpreted in the past. The only omission - an intentional one, I am sure - is that orders of other cultures were not included.

Whatever your view as an Architect, Classical Architecture is still around, and being built. With fewer Architects being knowledgeable of the orders of architecture, this book provides the essential information needed to provide an understanding of Classical Architecture. This book is not just a plate by plate description of built or unbuilt classical architecture, but a raw, down to the bone instruction manual of how to construct in minutest detail the five orders. WHEN it is back in print, this book will be an essential purchase for Architects and Offices alike. With very few Architects now having an understanding of Classical Architecture, you could be at an advantage. I would also suggest that when you get a copy, to actually draw the orders...its well worth it.

IFLYA

Sadly, the resolution of some of the images for the Kindle version of this text is too low to allow me to see some of the finer details - notably the numbers are indecipherable.

Nobody should waste their money buying this book as a KINDLE EDITION~!!

There are dozens of illustrations with proportional measurements, which are necessary to have if drafting or using a reference.

Why does Amazon offer these technical books which have many small items which cannot be replicated by digital scanning?? No way!

This illustrated text, at the published size of greater than 8"x12" is inappropriate for Kindle-ization.
It's value rest largely in the visual information to be relayed.
Sadly, it is virtually unavailable in the Kindle format.
This was a very bad choice to be reproduced in that medium.

Aside from trying to "sell it", rabidly, doesn't anyone think about what they are doing with Kindle?

If you are truly interested in classical architecture and intends to use and apply the classical orders in new construction projects, this is the book you will need. It contains exact and easily understandable information on proportions, scaling, dimensions, etc. and will get your drawings right. I have a huge library regarding the matter, but this is the book that will get you there! As a builder, I cant recommend this book highly enough, and we just finished a beaux-arts building project, that just came out perfect using the principles described in this book.

(In later editions, it might be recommended to include a chapter on sources and suppliers of columns, brackets, corbels, caryatides, mouldings,dentils, etc. -in regards to the project above, we found various small manufacturers in Paris, L.A., Merida, etc. who has been in business for ages, i.e. some of them dating back to the 1800s)

Again, this book delivers!!!