World Architecture

The one art form of which nearly everyone has had direct experience and on which everyone seems to have an opinion, architecture is frequently criticized, though not always by the well-informed. Like the other visual arts, modern architecture inevitably presents a confilict of sorts, between the architect's vision and what pleases the public. A concept dating from the beginning of the Modern movement. The intention, therefore, is to stimulate the reader's interest, to renew interest in what is already familiar and to introduce what is not, possibly encouraging holiday-makers to experience the buildings at first hand. However excellent and evocative photographs may be, they are poor substitutes for the real thing, and for this reason buildings have been chosen that are still reasonably intact, though in a very few cases in a ruined state. Because this book is aimed at the general reader, technical terms and abstract concepts have been avoided as far as possible. This is not a history of architecture, still less a guide to what is good and what is not. It is an illustrated guide to what are generally recognized as some of the greatest buildings in the world.