Rice's language of buildings / Matthew Rice.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rice, Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Architecture--Terminology.

Architecture.

Architecture--Details.

Decoration and ornament, Architectural.

Buildings--England.

Buildings.

Physical Description:

240 pages : colour illustrations ; 26 cm.

Other Title:

Rice's architectural primer

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury, 2018.

Summary:

"This beautifully illustrated book covers the grammar and vocabulary of British buildings, explaining the evolution of styles from Norman castles to Norman Foster. Its aim is to enable the reader to recognise, understand and date any British building. As Matthew Rice says, 'Once you can speak any language, conversation can begin, but without it communications can only be brief and brutish. The same is the case with architecture: an inability to describe the component parts of a building leaves one tongue-tied and unable to begin to discuss what is or is not exciting, dull or peculiar about it.' With this book in your hand, buildings will break down beguilingly into their component parts, ready for inspection and discussion. There will be no more references to 'that curly bit on top of the thing with the square protrusions'. Fluent in the world of volutes, hood moulds, lobed architraves and bucrania, you will be able to leave a cathedral or country house with as much to talk about as a film or play. Complete with over 400 exquisite watercolour illustrations and hand-drawn annotations, this is a joyous celebration of British buildings and will allow you to observe and describe the world around you afresh."--Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes index.

First published in Great Britain in 2009 as Rice's Architectural Primer.

Expanded from a series of architectural cribs commissioned by and published in Country Life.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Albert M. Greenfield Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781408893784

1408893789

OCLC:

1060194471