The Way We Build Now

Introduction

In this book, an attempt is made to give a perspective on the practice of building design in the industrial economies. The aim is to see how buildings have been designed, within the context of their time and place, and, in particular, how the scale and type of use, as well as known physical principles and building techniques, affect the final form of the building. The book starts with a review of some of the fundamental ideas in building technology, which are selected on the basis that they are what everyone involved in building design might be expected to know. The book then looks at a panorama of buildings completed over the last twenty-five years, in order to show how constructional materials have been used over the complete range ...