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Architecture Books

Flipbook Edition
Palau de la Música flipbook
Lluís Domènech i Montaner

€6.00
Flipbook Edition
The Alhambra flipbook
The Lion Courtyard

€6.00

Architecture books

Architecture has been present in the lives of human beings from the very beginning of time. Associated with a residential function, with the passing of time it has taken on a large variety of uses, until converting into a faithful reflection of the society it represents.

The books on architecture published by Dosde allow readers to explore a discipline that since antiquity has been described as the mother of all arts. With these absorbing books, an extensive architectural heritage can be discovered, consisting of exceptional works that cause fascination around the world both for their historical value, their originality and artistic wealth.

The history of architecture

The art of designing and constructing buildings is inseparable from the historical context. As is reflected in architecture books, each period has had its own specific style and work methods, identified with the beliefs and customs of society. This fact has meant that architecture has undergone a constant revolution throughout the centuries, in order to adapt to the necessities and demands of each moment.

The origins of architecture

Numerous books on architecture explain how in the Neolithic period, coinciding with the transition from nomadic to sedentary life, the very first constructions appeared, consisting of simple style houses and barns and megalithic monuments linked to religious and funerary functions.

As society became more complex, architecture took on greater importance. This is evidenced by the archaeological remains of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, promoters of the construction of temples and palaces of colossal dimensions, such as pyramids and ziggurats.

The Greco-Roman period

In Ancient Greece, architecture was distinguished for prioritising beauty and perfection. This search for formal harmony led to the formulation of the so-called architectural orders, rigid rules that determined the relationship between each of the parts of a building. Likewise, the Greeks also promoted the development of civil architecture, creating new types of building for public use such as stoas, arenas and theatres.

As described in books on architecture, the Romans tried to emulate Greek ideals, though they also drew on concepts originating from Etruscan culture. Their architecture was on a much more monumental scale, as a reflection of the greatness achieved by the Roman Empire, and it also encouraged ornamentation. Likewise, guided by its practicality, the Romans used new materials such as brick and concrete, with which they could build more easily and economically.

The Middle Ages

As reflected in the books published by Dosde on museums and monuments, in the medieval period architecture was closely linked to religion. In the Muslim world, the mosque was the most important building, while in the Christian world the distinguished place was the cathedral, whose construction could span several generations.

Owing to territorial tensions, military architecture also had a heavy presence. The towers, enclosing walls and fortresses formed part of the habitual urban landscape of a particularly turbulent time, in which all variety of defense systems were developed.

The Modern Age

During the Renaissance many of the concepts of the classical world were recuperated, which had been forgotten in the Middle Ages. Authors such as Vitruvius were greatly influenced by the Greco-Roman legacy in architecture books, laying the foundations of a new language guided by the concept of proportion.

This fascination with the ideals of Antiquity led to the emergence of Mannerism, a style that moved away from the classicist theoretical canons to prioritize a more subjective and contrived language. The arrival of the Baroque meant the order imposed by the Renaissance came to an end. During this period, architecture sought to capture attention by means of the use of curved lines, luminous effects and heavy ornamentation. This ostentation would be rejected by NeoClassicism, an artistic movement that defended the purity of architectonic lines and the use of a rational language, based on the classical criteria of beauty.

The 19^th century

Books on architecture and art books explain how the 19^th century was dominated by historicist movements, which sought to rescue elements from the architecture of the past. In many European regions, this recuperation of former styles, such as the Gothic, the Mudejar and the Romanesque, was fruit of the emergence of Nationalism, a socio-political movement that attributed to each territory its own identity, derived from some origins, a culture and some common interests.

In the second half of the 19^th century, the historicist styles coexisted with the so-called Cast-iron architecture, which incorporated construction materials typical of the Industrial Revolution, such as iron, steel, glass and concrete.

As the 19^th century drew to a close, the Modernist movement surfaced, a genre that combined technology from the industrial era with handicraft work in order to create a totally original language that was inspired by nature's shapes and forms. This period is explained in detail in the books on Modernism published by Dosde, amongst which include different titles devoted to the analysis of Antoni Gaudí's work, one of the great references of the movement.

Contemporary architecture

From the 20^th century, coinciding with the emergence of the artistic avant-garde, architecture entered a renovation phase in order to respond to the problems arising in modern society. Architecture books show how this redefinition of constructive work was articulated through movements such as Rationalism, represented by architects such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe; and Organicism, whose maximum exponent was Frank Lloyd Wright.

These trends coincided in their commitment to a functional architecture, in which the useful predominated over the purely ornamental. The use of open plan design and the new industrial materials were other common features of these movements, whose ideas laid the foundations of the so-called International Style.

Nowadays, in the architectural panorama, diverse tendencies and currents coexist, ranging from those that wager for total formal freedom to those that remain faithful to rationalist criteria. Regardless of their theoretical vision, present-day architects all take advantage of the full potential of computer technologies and new industrial materials to carry out their projects, which also tend to take into account strict sustainability criteria, as a reflection of a society increasingly concerned about the environment.

All this fascinating evolution is reflected in the pages of our books, allowing the reader to get closer to some of the main references of a discipline in a process of constant change.

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Architecture Books

Palau de la Música flipbook

The Alhambra flipbook