Roman Imperial Architecture (The Yale University Press Pelican History of Art) 1st (first) Edition by Ward-Perkins, J. B. published by Yale University Press

by J.B. Ward-Perkins

This history of Roman Imperial architecture looks at the interaction of two dominant themes - in Rome itself the emergence of a new architecture based on the use of Roman concrete, and in the provinces the development of interrelated but distinctive Romano-provincial schools.

Genres: Architecture, History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

Unknown Binding

First published November 25, 1992

About the author

John Bryan Ward-Perkins, CMG, CBE, FBA was a British architectural historian and archaeologist; he was director of the British School at Rome from 1946 to 1974.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Themes include: novel focus on interior space; impact of concrete & marble; influence of Asia Minor & increasing uniformity.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a textbook and that’s how it reads. Dry as dust. But apparently it’s the best text book out there. Encyclopedic.

[Andreas Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edizione decisamente migliorata, se non altro ora le immagini sono vicine al testo di riferimento.

[Katarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

HRV: Pročitano za nastavu na faksu i korišteno u seminarima.

ENG: Read for my college classes and used for seminars.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ward-Perkins is the standard handbook for advanced introductions to Roman Imperial Architecture - which doesn't make for exceptionally entertaining reading. The book attacks and summarizes the major monuments, technological developments and stylistic changes through time and across the Empire. There's a fairly extensive bibliography, although it is a little outdated now. This book is a great place to start when thinking about architecture. There aren't many technical descriptions (engineering, chemistry of concretes etc), which may be a downside to those who are interested in considering how things were built and what the state of technology was in antiquity. There is minimal description of decorative finishing or the social/political/religious implications of the changing styles, but this book doesn't pretend to be about social commentary. What it intends to do it does very well, namely, it describes the developments in architectural style in the Roman Empire. There are many lovely pictures, although at times there are relatively lengthy descriptions of buildings not presented in the illustrations.