Exploring architecture

"Lavishly illustrated, this book covers ancient and modern architecture from across the world, in four sections. It looks at the practical uses of buildings and their responses to climate. It looks at architecture as an art, at architectural meaning and at how and why architectural styles have changed over the centuries. It looks at materials and structures and how buildings are designed and made. Finally it looks at the way in which buildings come together in towns and cities, creating a complex built environment." "Based on the unequalled architectural resources of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Institute of British Architects, this book provides an invaluable key to the understanding of buildings ancient and modern the world over."--BOOK JACKET.