A Chronology of Architecture: A Cultural Timeline from Stone Circles to Skyscrapers

A fresh take on the history of architecture, using cultural timelines to reveal little-known connections between society, engineering, and design.

Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius defined architecture's characteristics to include firmitas, utilitas, and venustasessentially, structural integrity, usefulness, and beauty. Amazingly, all three Vitruvian characteristics can be found one way or another in most buildings and constructions from antiquity through the present.

A Chronology of Architecture is a groundbreaking survey that examinestogetherengineering and architectural accomplishments. Sites are arranged within a sociocultural timeline that examines them in terms of historic events and trends, social change, economic developments, and technological innovationsfactors that all helped shape architecture and engineering design solutions over millennia.