The invisible universe

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Giulio Magli

This book provides the first complete, easy to read, up-to-date account of the fascinating discipline of archaeoastronomy, in which the relationship between ancient constructions and the sky is studied in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas of the architects of the past and of their religious and symbolic worlds. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the past relations between astronomy and people, power, the afterworld, architecture, and landscape. The fundamentals of archaeoastronomy are then addressed in detail, with coverage of the celestial coordinates; the apparent motion of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets; observation of celestial bodies at the horizon; the use of astronomical software in archaeoastronomy; and current methods for making and analyzing measurements. The final section reviews what archaeoastronomy can now tell us about the nature and purpose of such sites and structures as Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza, Chichen Itza, the Campus Martius, and the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento. In addition, a set of exercises is provided that can be performed using non-commercial free software, e.g., Google Earth or Stellarium, and will equip readers to conduct their own research. Readers will find the book an ideal introduction to what has become a wide-ranging multidisciplinary science. -- Back cover.

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Stephen Cassell, Adam Yarinsky

"The process of investigation, analysis, and testing makes Architecture Research Office (ARO) as much a laboratory as a design firm. For Stephen Cassell, Adam Yarinsky, and their team, the starting point of each commission is not the development of an abstract "idea" for the project, but an intensive, hands-on occupation with a project's conditions, with its physical, economic, and social contexts. This practical approach to making architecture, to shrinking the distance between thinking and building, is much evident in their work, which manages to be simultaneously thoughtful and sensual.". "The seven projects featured in this, the first monograph on the work of this firm, range from self-directed research (ARO's paper wall project), to private living spaces (the SoHo Loft), to commercial interiors (the Qiora Store and Spa), to the popular U.S. Armed Services Recruiting Station in Times Square, to the stunning Colorado House in Telluride. All of these projects challenge design conventions, while delighting the senses with their unusual materials, careful detailing, and unexpected spatial discoveries." "With essays by Stan Allen, Philip Nobel, Guy Nordenson, and Sarah Whiting."--BOOK JACKET.

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Michael Stern and Alan Hess

"A visionary artist who has achieved worldwide fame, Julius Shulman transformed the face of architectural photography - has, in truth, changed the very nature of how we see architecture - demanding that his work be so much more than the cold documentation of buildings. From the earliest photographs till those taken today, in a prolific and still vibrant career, his work demonstrates a profound sensitivity to and appreciation for the spaces in which actual people live, spaces that, as seen through his lens, are at once luminous and profoundly shadowed, spaces that are sometimes wonderfully mannered and yet still strangely, deeply personal, spaces of intrigue and ultimately extraordinary beauty, into which the observer - Shulman's passionate audience - longs to enter." "This volume, published in association with the Palm Springs Art Museum to accompany the exhibition, Julius Shulman: Palm Springs, tells the brilliant, decades-long story of the legendary photographer's symbiotic relationship with this oasis of Modernism on which so much of his photography is focused, an architectural landscape the formation of which he has simultaneously observed and helped bring to be."--BOOK JACKET.

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introduction by Franz Schulze

Krueck & Sexton Architects has made its mark with designs that draw from classic modernism as well as from the current architectural discourse. The sixteen projects presented in this volume are documented with remarkable color photographs and meticulous presentation drawings, as well as evocative graphic and painterly representations of the spaces created. Krueck and Sexton's commentary on each work discusses its progression from commission to completed work, and also traces the evolution of their visual language.