This brisk tour of buildings, engineering projects, and artifacts produced throughout the world is a sequel to the author's very successful first book, The Story of Western Architecture. It traces the history of modern architecture, together with relevant developments in design and technology, from the early 19th century to the present day.  Risebero relates changing architectural ideas to changing currents in Western thought, to Marx, to Nietzsche, to Darwin, and to the conflicting philosophies of post-modernism. He describes and illustrates many of the grandest and most monumental projects built over the past 200 years, and his admiration for these works is infectious, even as he makes it clear that many were ordered and paid for by the wrong people for the wrong reasons. He also includes the more recent and informal architecture of protest, such as Third-World squatter settlements.  The book is wide-ranging and consciously attempts to bring in some of the lost innovators of mechanical production as well as the names one would expect to find in a text that moves from the great Victorian engineers to Schinkel; from Haussmann's Paris to English suburbia; from Modernisme to Catalonia to Frank Lloyd Wright; from Art Deco to the London Underground; from welfare state housing to the Sydney Opera House. William Morris emerges as a key figure in the story, as do the Russian Constructivists, and, of course, the Bauhaus designers.  Bill Risebero has worked as both an architect and a planner. He has designed urban housing developments, prepared environmental and conservation studies of London, and taught British and American architectural students.

Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History

Arts & Photography

Risebero, Bill

Architecture

Mit Pr

British architect and planner Bill Risebero recreates 200 years of modern architecture and design against a backdrop of class dominance over rising industrialism. The lively and opinionated text and more than 1,000 captioned drawings by the author provide a refreshing reinterpretation of architectural developments in the modern period.

In this highly original introductory survey, British architect and planner, Bill Risebero covers the development of Western architecture from fifth century Europe to the present in terms of economic priorities, class relations, climate, natural resources, and other factors that affect our built environment. From the Gothic cathedrals to the White Towers in Los Angeles, Risebero discusses and illustrates architecture in the context of human affairs. He explains how the communtarian architecture of early societies afforded social satisfactions that compensated for their lack of technical sophistication, how the Greeks brought exquisite refinement to a simple structural system, and how grandiose Roman architecture attempted to impose security on a society plagued by inflation and unemployment. His own informal sketches and handwritten captions throughout the book provide helpful, visual outlines of each period. Bill Risebero is also the author of Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History, which is a sequel to this book and available in paperback from The MIT Press.

The Story of Western Architecture

Photography & Video

When this book was first published in 1979, the executive editor of the Architectural Review said, "I find it one of the most remarkable books on the subject that I have ever come across...a tremendous achievement of Pevsnerian dimensions." The author has updated this survey of Western civilization to take the reader back to ancient Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. He has also extended it to include the recent years of postmodernism and urbanism, the New Right ideology of the eighties, and the rising environmental concerns of the nineties. The author views the history of architecture not as a chronology of styles but as an expression of social and economic conditions; he informs us not only of what was built but how, when, and under what cultural incentives. The author's hundreds of clear and informative drawings and diagrams add to the lively, informal nature of a book that has been widely adopted as a classroom text.

The Story of Western Architecture - Revised Edition

When this survey of Western civilization was first published in 1979, the executive editor of the Architectural Review said, "I find it one of the most remarkable books on the subject that I have ever come across. . . a tremendous achievement of Pevsnerian dimensions." With the second edition, the author took the reader back to ancient Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and also extended it to include postmodernism and urbanism, the New Right ideology of the 1980s, and the rising environmental concerns of the 1990s. The third edition includes a new sixteen-page section that brings the story up to the twenty-first century and adds many new drawings. The author views the history of architecture not as a chronology of styles but as an expression of social and economic conditions; he tells us not only what was built and when, but also how and under what cultural incentives. The author's hundreds of clear and informative drawings and diagrams add to the lively, informal nature of the book.

The Story of Western Architecture: Third Edition

History

In this highly original introductory survey, British architect and planner, Bill Risebero covers the development of Western architecture from fifth century Europe to the present in terms of economic priorities, class relations, climate, natural resources, and other factors that affect our built environment. From the Gothic cathedrals to the White Towers in Los Angeles, Risebero discusses and illustrates architecture in the context of human affairs. He explains how the communtarian architecture of early societies afforded social satisfactions that compensated for their lack of technical sophistication, how the Greeks brought exquisite refinement to a simple structural system, and how grandiose Roman architecture attempted to impose security on a society plagued by inflation and unemployment. His own informal sketches and handwritten captions throughout the book provide helpful, visual outlines of each period.  Bill Risebero is also the author of Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History, which is a sequel to this book and available in paperback from The MIT Press.

The story of Western architecture

History & Criticism

Herbert Press

Modern architecture and design: An alternative history

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Now in its fourth edition, this classic bestselling book has been updated with brand new chapters and hand-drawn illustrations. Using a highly accessible approach, the author takes history rather than aesthetics as his starting point. Risebero unfolds and explains the development of architecture in the Western world by examining the subject as an expression of social and economic conditions. 
The Story of Western Architecture explores not only the buildings constructed, but also how they were built, by whom and for what purpose. This informative book, brought to life through the author's expressive line drawings, is an essential guide to how buildings have evolved through time for keen amateurs and experts alike.

Bloomsbury Visual Arts

This fourth edition of the classic bestselling book features updates with all new illustrations and three exciting new chapters on Western architecture. The success of this book lies with the fact that it takes history rather than aesthetics as a starting point. Risebero recounts the development of architecture in the Western world by looking at it as an expression of social and economic conditions. The book discusses not only the buildings that were constructed, but how they were built, for what purpose, and by whom. This approachable and informative guide to the development of Western architecture is a very readable account of how things have evolved through time, while the text is brought to life through the author’s own line drawings.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

A&C Black

Bill Risebero, author of The Story of Western Architecture and Modern Architecture and Design, brings his story of modern architecture up to date with this examination of what has followed the eclipse of modernism. He looks critically at the theory and practice of the past decade–the decline of welfare capitalism, post-modern architecture, the development of free-market and right-wing political attitudes and their application to planning and social policy. Risebero places his subject in as wide a context as possible, geographical and historical, relating it to current trends in town planning, art, education, philosophy and literary theory. He also looks at the signs of hope for the future of our cities–people's growing concern for the environment and the earth's resources, their increasing demands for positive change–and at their architectural implications. This is a topical, controversial book which not only describes today's architecture and goes a long way to explain why it is as it is but also suggests radical solutions to the current unsatisfactory state of affairs.

Fantastic Form: Architecture and Planning Today

New Amsterdam Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Risebero, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Risebero, Bill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Risebero, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History

Modern Architecture and Design: An Alternative History

The Story of Western Architecture

The Story of Western Architecture - Revised Edition

The Story of Western Architecture: Third Edition

The story of Western architecture

Modern architecture and design: An alternative history

The Story of Western Architecture

The Story of Western Architecture

Fantastic Form: Architecture and Planning Today