Traditions in Architecture Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania

This text introduces students, professionals and the general public to the architectural achievements of diverse cultures outside the Euro-American tradition. Rather than concentrating on geographic or chronological categories, however, the authors have arranged their subject matter thematically in order to focus on the basic needs common to all human communities.;The book is divided into five major sections, each of which deals with vernacular as well as momumental structures. These five topics are discussed in terms of particular architectural solutions, comparing and contrasting geographically separated buildings and construction traditions. For example, the issue of architectural meaning is studied through symbolic gardens in China, verbal ornament in the Islamic world, and the wall paintings of Ndebele women of southeast Africa. Theoretical issues related to particular building traditions are illuminated by these juxtapositions. The book begins with an investigation into the ways in which the continuity of traditional forms is maintained.