As the first comprehensive encyclopedic survey of Western architectural theory from Vitruvius to the present, this book is an essential resource for architects, students, teachers, historians, and theorists. Using only original sources, Kruft has undertaken the monumental task of researching, organizing, and analyzing the significant statements put forth by architectural theorists over the last two thousand years. The result is a text that is authoritative and complete, easy to read without being reductive.

A visual, large-format compilation of some the finest architectural drawings from Sir John Soane's extensive collection. Architectural Drawings casts light on the magnificent architectural drawings of neo-classical architect, teacher and collector, Sir John Soane that are otherwise concealed in archives. This book, featuring artworks handpicked from what was probably the first comprehensive collection of architectural drawings in the world, numbering 30,000 at the time of his death in 1837, celebrates a life spent procuring curiosities. The collection encompasses the hands of Montano, Thorpe, Wren, Talman, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Gibbs, Kent, Chambers, Adam, Clérisseau, Pêcheux, Wyatt, Playfair, Nash and, of course, Soane himself. The quality of Soane's collection of drawings is scarcely paralleled elsewhere and on account of their fragility, these items are infrequently seen by the public. This innovative book draws together the most exquisite and important works from the collection for the first time, showing the extraordinary connoisseurship of Sir John Soane while also exploring what drove Soane to amass such a collection and the provenance of his various significant acquisitions. This book illustrates the story of Soane as a collector of architectural drawings, but a story which is not normally available to the public, and will provide a sumptuous opportunity to peruse some of the finest architectural drawings in existence.

The author charts the development of architectural theory and practice from Elizabeth I to George IV. Questions of style, technology, and the social framework are resolved as separable but always essential components of the building worlds.

This book brings together twenty-four original essays by colleagues, pupils and friends of Kerry Downes. The essays range from the late middle ages to the twentieth century but are concentrated on the period to the study of which Kerry Downes has contributed so much: that of Wren, Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor. Taken together these essays display the different approaches taken by architectural historians and the rich variety of English architecture.