Architecture Art

This audiobook uses engaging nonfiction text and hands-on projects to help young listeners explore real-life structure and tower engineering projects, including the science behind how these buildings are planned and built.

Making the perfect mirror surface of Chicago's Cloud Gate sculpture took a lot of work.

A counting book that follows the construction of a building, from one plan to twelve stories.

The theory of architecture implicit in our world today, Christopher Alexander believes, is bankrupt. More and more people are aware that something is deeply wrong. Yet the power of present day ideas is so great that many feel uncomfortable, even afraid, to say openly that they dislike what is happening, because they are afraid to seem foolish, afraid perhaps that they will be laughed at. Now, at last, there is a coherent theory which describes in modern terms an architecture as ancient as human society itself.

Big cities will soon boast supertall and megatall skyscrapers. This means we’ll need elevators that can safely handle them! Engineers are busy rising to the challenge of designing high tech elevators to help people reach these new heights.

Have you ever seen a fractal? You probably have, and just didn’t know it! These repeating shapes can happen anywhere, whether in nature or in math—it’s easy to make one out of a series of lines and triangles! Follow along and make a fractal of your own in a fun craft.

Have you ever looked at a skyscraper and wondered how it was built? Do you ever look up at a tall building and wonder how it does not fall down? This story helps you explore the changes that have led to the creation of skyscrapers! You will get to see the different materials that have been developed to allow for better stability. You will get to understand how things like iron, steel, and concrete have revolutionized the way buildings are built and designed. By the end of this story, you will have a new appreciation for the skyscrapers that are all over the world!

Have you ever wondered how skyscrapers are built? It takes many workers to design and build a skyscraper. Learn about the architects, engineers, and contractors that turn an idea into a building!

Cable-stayed bridges are one of six main types of bridges built around the world. Learn about the Zakim Bridge in Boston and try the activity to see how cable-stayed bridges are so strong. Can you guess how strong a cable-stayed bridge is?

Have you ever wondered how tall and long bridges are built? Learn about three different bridges and try the activities to learn about how strong bridges, like the Golden Gate Bridge, are made.

For engineers and architects, mistakes are part of the creative process. Learn why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans, how the reflections from the Walt Disney Concert Hall caused a heat ray, and what engineers and architects did to solve these types of problems.

Bridges, towers, castles, and all sorts of iconic and bizarre structures are jam-packed into Totally Amazing Facts About Stuff We've Built.

Where do the players go when they’re not on the field? And where do the vendors cook all those hot dogs? Behind the scenes of the sports stadium, there’s a whole world of activity that keeps the stadium running. Let’s go under the lights to spot the secrets of a sports stadium.

We are living through a global catastrophe. Buildings affect how we feel, moment by moment, day by day. They have the power to lift us up and make us feel awestruck, playful, safe, and inspired, just as they can make us feel alienated and sad. But many of the places where we live, work, learn, and heal have become monotonous and disposable. We’re surrounded by cheap, boring buildings that make people stressed, sick, and unhappy. In short, much of our world has been crafted in a way that is hostile to human experience.

SHORT

Moving house has never flustered author Jane Christmas. She loves houses: viewing them, negotiating their price, dreaming up interior plans, hiring tradespeople to do the work and overseeing renovations. She loves houses so much that she’s moved thirty-two times. With humour and irreverence, Open House reveals that what we think we gain by constantly moving house actually obscures the precious and vital parts of our lives that we leave behind.This is a memoir that will appeal to anyone whose pulse quickens at the mere mention of real estate.

In Montparnasse begins on the eve of the First World War and ends with the 1936 unveiling of Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. As those extraordinary years unfolded, the Surrealists found ever more innovative ways of exploring the interior life, and asking new questions about how to define art. In Montparnasse recounts how this artistic revolution came to be amidst the salons and cafés of that vibrant neighborhood.

Frank Lloyd Wright has long been known as a rank egotist who held in contempt almost everything aside from his own genius. Harder to detect, but no less real, is a Wright who fully understood, and suffered from, the choices he made. This is the Wright whom Paul Hendrickson reveals in this masterful biography: the Wright who was haunted by his father, about whom he told the greatest lie of his life.

Le Corbusier famously said, "A house is a machine for living in." We now confront the litany of environmental challenges associated with the legacy of the architectural machine: a changing climate, massive species die-off, diminished air and water quality, and resource scarcities. Brook Muller offers an alternative: water-centric urban design that fosters sustainability, equity, and architectural creativity.

Through engaging storytelling, human behavior insights, and proven design techniques, Kevin Kelley—an attention architect and cofounder of Shook Kelley, a strategic design firm that pioneered the field of "convening"—unfolds why physical places are essential to civil society, business, and community.