Author: Stephen Kite Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1350320684 Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
Shaping the Surface explores the history of modern British architecture through the lens of surface, materiality and decoration. Picking up on a trait that art historian Nikolaus Pevsner first identified as a 'national mania for beautiful surface quality', this book makes a new contribution to architectural history and visual culture in its detailed examination of the surfaces of British architecture from the middle of the 19th century up to the turn of the 21st century. Tracing this continuing sensibility to surface all the way through to the modern era, it explores how and why surface and materiality have featured so heavily in recent architectural tradition, examining the history of British architecture through a selection of key cultural moments and movements from Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts, to Brutalism, High-Tech, Post-Modernism, Neo-Vernacular, and the New Materiality. Embedded within the narrative is the question of whether such national characters can exist in architecture at all – and indeed the extent to which it is possible to identify a British architectural consciousness in an architectural tradition characterised by its continuous importation of theories, ideas, materials and people from around the globe. Shaping the Surface provides a deep critique and meditation on the importance of surface and materiality for architects, designers, and historians everywhere - in Britain and beyond - while it also serves as a thematic introduction to modern British architectural history, with in-depth readings of the works of many key British architects, artists, and critics from Ruskin and William Morris to Alison and Peter Smithson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Rogers and Caruso St John.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309140242 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
During geologic spans of time, Earth's shifting tectonic plates, atmosphere, freezing water, thawing ice, flowing rivers, and evolving life have shaped Earth's surface features. The resulting hills, mountains, valleys, and plains shelter ecosystems that interact with all life and provide a record of Earth surface processes that extend back through Earth's history. Despite rapidly growing scientific knowledge of Earth surface interactions, and the increasing availability of new monitoring technologies, there is still little understanding of how these processes generate and degrade landscapes. Landscapes on the Edge identifies nine grand challenges in this emerging field of study and proposes four high-priority research initiatives. The book poses questions about how our planet's past can tell us about its future, how landscapes record climate and tectonics, and how Earth surface science can contribute to developing a sustainable living surface for future generations.
Author: Fred M. Dickey Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1351832050 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 592
Book Description
Laser Beam Shaping: Theory and Techniques addresses the theory and practice of every important technique for lossless beam shaping. Complete with experimental results as well as guidance on when beam shaping is practical and when each technique is appropriate, the Second Edition is updated to reflect significant developments in the field. This authoritative text: Features new chapters on axicon light ring generation systems, laser-beam-splitting (fan-out) gratings, vortex beams, and microlens diffusers Describes the latest advances in beam profile measurement technology and laser beam shaping using diffractive diffusers Contains new material on wavelength dependence, channel integrators, geometrical optics, and optical software Laser Beam Shaping: Theory and Techniques, Second Edition not only provides a working understanding of the fundamentals, but also offers insight into the potential application of laser-beam-profile shaping in laser system design.
Author: Bruce Sterling Publisher: MIT Press (MA) ISBN: 9780262195331 Category : Design Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
A guide to the next great wave of technology -- an era of objects so programmable that they can be regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system.
Author: Stephen Kite
Author: 
Author: George Rex Meyer
Author: National Research Council
Author: John Bridge
Author: George Rex Meyer
Author: Fred M. Dickey
Author: Bruce Sterling
Author: Robert Pierleoni
Author: Tadeusz Zaborowski