Architecture
from prehistory to climate emergency
$23.15
- Paperback
576 pages
- Release Date
16 January 2023
Summary
Powering the Past: A History of Architecture and Energy
Reducing energy use is the single biggest challenge facing architecture today. From the humblest prehistoric hut to the imposing monuments of Rome or Egypt to super-connected modern airports, buildings in every era and place have been shaped by the energy available for their construction and running.
This original and compelling survey tells the story of our buildings from our hunter-gatherer origins to the age of fossi…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780141978208 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0141978201 |
| Series: | Pelican Books |
| Author: | Barnabas Calder |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Pelican |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 576 |
| Release Date: | 16 January 2023 |
| Weight: | 311g |
| Dimensions: | 181mm x 111mm x 24mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
Provocative, enlightening… Calder is the perfect guide around some of mankind’s most substantial achievements, but never swerves away from asking hard questions – Best Books of 2021 * Herald *[An] engaging study… It has something of the appeal of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel - that of grounding historical mysteries in material facts… Partly a hymn or elegy to the world that fossil fuels made, partly a warning of the disasters they are bringing… Calder makes a simple and important point, often with engaging and unexpected detail: architecture is indeed made by energy, which makes crucial the next stage of its evolution – Rowan Moore * Observer *A survey of construction and its entanglement with energy use… Superb * Financial Times *An essential read: clarifying, alarming, but hopeful * Architects’ Journal *An insightful, often impassioned journey through the history of buildings – Simon Ings * New Scientist *[A] powerful, disturbing account of architecture and energy since ancient times – Andrew Robinson * Nature *
Calder has written an energetic global history of architecture - energetic both in the vim he brings to a colossal subject, and in its particular focus… For the general reader, it’s an entertaining and original introduction to the history of architecture. For the architect, it helpfully sets the daunting challenges of our day in lively and inspiring context
– Will Wiles * RIBA *A highly readable world history of architecture… This book will help to reinforce the crucial role of architecture in tackling the climate crisis – Catherine Croft * RIBA Journal *Calder’s brilliant book […arises from] a truly astonishing depth and breadth of research […and] develops a new frame for architectural writing which frankly makes some of the previous architectural histories look at best parochial, or at worst irrelevant in the face of the global climate crisis – Professor Jeremy Till * Buildings and Cities *A brilliantly written and timely investigation into a fundamental truth that is often overlooked: energy, in particular the availability of certain types of fuel, is perhaps the single most important driver of architectural design – Florian Urban, Professor of Architectural History, Glasgow School of ArtAbout The Author
Barnabas Calder
Barnabas Calder is a historian of architecture and Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, specializing in the relationship between architecture and energy throughout human history. He also works on British architecture since 1945, and is the author of Raw Concrete- The Beauty of Brutalism.
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