Why Buildings Stand Up:; the strength of architecture

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1980. First edition, first printing (full number line). Hardcover. Previous owner stamp on front free end paper. Top edges of boards mildly sunned. Else pages clean and bright. Binding tight. DJ mildly sunned. DJ in archival mylar. Very good in very good DJ.. Hardcover quarto with white DJ. 311 pages: illustrations; 25 cm. Series: Norton paperback Abstract: An introduction to building methods from ancient times to the present day. In the afterword (to the 1990 pbk. ed.), the author discusses recent advances in science and technology that have had important effects on the planning and construction of buildings: improved materials (steel, concrete, plastics), progress in antiseismic designs, and changes in both architectural and structural design made possible by the computer. Contents: Structures -- The pyramids -- Loads -- Materials -- Beams and columns -- Houses -- Skyscrapers -- The Eiffel Tower -- Bridges -- The Brooklyn Bridge -- Form-resistant structures -- The unfinished cathedral -- Domes -- Hagia Sophia -- Tents and balloon -- The hanging sky -- The message of structure. Structural engineering. Architecture.