Book categories

The Adaptation Process of a Resettled Community to the Newly-Built Environment

A Study of the Nubian Experience in Egypt

by Wael Salah Fahmi

2014

Generally, construction of dams is regarded as means of economic progress in many countries. However, major consequences of such projects are the inundation of upstream areas and the resettlement of entire communities in newly built environments where they experience dramatic transformation in their lifestyles. The present study takes the Nubian resettlement experience after the creation of Lake Nasser that submerged their old settlements, along the river Nile. Following their resettlement, the design of the newly-built environment disrupted the Nubian traditional lifestyles and patterns of privacy mechanisms, territoriality and social interaction. However, the inadequacy of the newly-built environment was mainly attributed to the Nubians' transfer from spacious homes in the old village...

Scientific Approach Principle for New Resilient Coastal Landscape Design

Revitalizing Revere Beach, MA - A Case Study for Flood Mitigation

by Anahita Kianous

2017

Due to recent climate change, the character of environmental regional planning has shifted to address the anticipated extreme increases in sea level rise. As such, this project, based on existing scientific research/data, proposes a spatial, habitable landscape architectural solution as a model for flood mitigation for the East coastal edge. This proposal tests the potential for resilient coastal landscapes through a particular site located on Revere Beach, along with the New England coast in Massachusetts. The study demonstrates how through new public spaces designed to renew and protect the beach and the broader offshores, residents and visitors will be able to engage with this 21st Century, resilient beachfront. Also, residents and visitors will experience sophisticated efficient flood ...

Megalithism

Sacred and Pagan Architecture in Prehistory

by Alberto Pozzi

2013

Megalithism, or the art of using huge boulders to create sacred, pagan monuments and sites, still fascinates us today. How did Prehistoric man cut, transport, and place such enormous stones, some weighing up to 200 metric tons, without bulldozers, drills, and cranes? Yet primitive man, without the written word or wheel, created structures which still stupefy us in the 21st century, both due to their components and the precision used in positioning them. This book takes us back in time to the 5th-2nd millennia B.C. and helps us visualise the Stone Age world and its constructions - menhirs, dolmens, rows and circles of standing stones. Undoubtedly they were sacred places, used for pagan rituals and funerary purposes, but the author also gives us details of their astronomic and physical...

Fundamental Building Materials

Fourth Edition

by Ken Ward-Harvey

2009

Written by an architect with many years' experience in practice and teaching, this book is a well-illustrated introduction to the great range of materials used in much of the world's building and construction. It is the only book of its type on the market, and suitable for anyone teaching or studying for building trades, architecture, building, landscape design, structural engineering, and allied disciplines. When first published, a reviewer commented, "This book has filled a large gap in publications available to both students and the building professions."

The Fourth (2009) Edition is now available, incorporating many references to current standard codes, research, manufacturers, and other authoritative information on the internet, to expand content further if needed.

The Psychogeography of Urban Architecture

by David Prescott-Steed

2013

This praxis-based book explores how an improvisational, creative and embodied practice such as the dérive works to defamiliarise our experience of the late modern built environment, fostering new insight into routinised cultural behaviours. In addition to detailing the key contexts of modernity, this book includes case studies on the work of Viktor Shklovsky, Craig Raine, Georges Perec, plus rare scholarly attention to the postcards of Jim Henson’s Uncle Traveling Matt. Tertiary students and early career researchers in the humanities, particularly cultural theory and the creative arts, will read about the work of internationally recognised artists who have responded creatively to the urban landscape in view of its habituation under advanced capitalism. The research aims to provide suff...

Color Education in the Interior Design Curriculum

by Jessica Bantom

2012

This study was conducted in order to define what constitutes color education in the undergraduate interior design curriculum. The study was also intended to assess students' knowledge of color upon completing their design education and preparing to enter the profession. The research for this study was conducted via the following: an evaluation of the curriculum of 96 accredited interior design programs and several course syllabi and supporting materials; a survey of final-year students regarding their views of color education; an interview with a former Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) site visitor to define criteria for assessing color proficiency in a design program; and a color exercise administered to final-year students to examine their practical color application ...

On-line Virtual Museums: An Application of an On-line VR Museum for the Parthenon Marbles

Internet: A Means of Cultural Repatriation

by Kleio Tzanaki

2004

Among the most debated archaeological problems is the repatriation of cultural objects that have been removed from the country of origin and then dispersed in Museums around the world. The need for the return of cultural objects to their homelands is not only derived from the people they belong to, but also from those they appreciate their value and have archaeological interest in them. However, there are a number of problems revolved around most cases, which prohibit the cultural repatriation to be achieved. The case of the Parthenon Marbles is one of the best-known claims for the repatriation of cultural property, as its sculptures, which constitute an integral part of it, have been removed from the temple and are stored in different Museums. Towards the problem of cultural repatriation...

Late Mamluk Patronage

Qansuh al-Ghuri's Waqfs and His Foundations in Cairo

by Khaled A. Alhamzah

2009

This book attempts to look at the structure and functions of the constituent elements of the Ghuriyya complex through the medium of contemporary sources --in particular its waqfiyya--and in doing so, the motives and attitudes of the patron, his goals and his ambitions are defined. In addition, the study seeks to place the monuments in broader context and examine them within the more extended social, economic, political, and cultural environment of al- Ghuri’s reign. This book will be of considerable interest to academics and students working on the history of art and architecture, history, culture and urbanism of the Middle East. Its subject is the expressive intent of Mamluk architecture, using new cultural and iconographical approaches. The book offers the first complete English translat...