Building the Book Cathedral


Book Description

It has been twenty-six years since the publication of CATHEDRAL. David Macaulay's first book, CATHEDRAL, introduced readers around the world to his unique gift for presenting architecture and technology in simple terms, and for demystifying even the most complex of concepts. CATHEDRAL received a Caldecott Honor Medal and is now considered a classic. BUILDING THE BOOK CATHEDRAL includes the content of CATHEDRAL in its entirety. Here Macaulay traces the evolution of his creative process in "building" that first book, from the initial concept to the finished drawings. He introduces the basic elements of structure and sequence and explains why one angle of a drawing may be better for conveying an idea than another. He describes how perspective, scale, and contrast can be used to connect a reader with concepts, and how placement of a picture on a page can make a difference in the way information is communicated. Building the Book Cathedral provides an opportunity to examine Macaulay's unique problem-solving skills as he looks back over two and a half decades at the book that launched his distinguished career.




How to Build a Cathedral


Book Description

Gothic cathedrals are monuments to God, witnesses to the historic power of the Church, and symbols of the faith of the thousands of believers who contributed to their creation. They are also astonishing feats of construction and engineering, from a period before steel-making, machine tools and computer simulation; breathtaking in their scale and grandeur even hundreds of years after the religious impulse that produced them has largely faded away.How to Build a Cathedral is a visual exploration of the building of these masterpieces, from the initial groundplan to the topping out of the spire. Illustrated throughout with beautiful engravings, it looks at each element of the structure in turn, explaining the process of construction and the methods that were used. At intervals though the book, special gatefold pages offer a detailed snapshot of the evolution of the building as it rises into the heavens. A 16-page colour section allows for appreciation of stained glass and decorative stonework. With text written by a leading architectural historian, How to Build a Cathedral is an illuminating portrait of the genius of the medieval architect.




Cathedral


Book Description

This richly illustrated book shows the intricate step-by-step process of an imaginary cathedral's growth.




Building the Cathedral


Book Description

The modern world is in turmoil. The decline of the old religious myths has generated profound psychological instability for many people, with nothing yet to take their place. The resulting "meaning crisis" lies at the heart of so much of our cultural tumult, and will continue to unravel society until we find a way to affectively reintegrate a sense of mythic meaning and common purpose back into our lives. Personal myth offers us a constructive way forward. Since Carl Jung first explored the idea in the mid-20th century, numerous psychologists and comparative mythologists have advanced the concept in fruitful ways. This book attempts to develop it even further-to show how the process of personal mythmaking can not only return a sense of meaning to our individual lives but also form the basis of genuinely edifying spiritual community. The task of reimagining the sacred calls each of us to do our part-a project every bit as bold as the building of the great cathedrals. What will you build with your life?




The Pillars of the Earth


Book Description

#1 New York Times Bestseller Oprah's Book Club Selection The “extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece” (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett’s already phenomenal career—and begins where its prequel, The Evening and the Morning, ended. “Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner,” extolled Publishers Weekly on the release of The Pillars of the Earth. A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, the historical epic stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity. Today, it stands as a testament to Follett’s unassailable command of the written word and to his universal appeal. The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother. A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.




Built to Last


Book Description

A nomad fashion's a home that’s meant to be built and rebuilt. A family tears down an old house and erects a new one in its place. Even the Eiffel Tower wasn’t meant to be anything more than temporary. As humans, we don’t always build things to endure the test of time. Built to Last brings together the award-winning author and artist David Macaulay’s creative, exacting thinking about buildings and designs that were crafted with a strength of structure and purpose that defy the everyday: Castle, Cathedral, and Mosque. This gorgeous volume includes newly researched information about each building and how it was built. And, for the first time ever, the Caldecott Honor–winning Castle and Cathedral appear in full color—with stunning new drawings that enrich the reader’s understanding of these structures, and capture intriguing new perspectives and details. Just as the buildings themselves were created to last, our interest in the structures themselves, the people who created them, and the purposes for which they were made endures as well. This impeccably researched volume—a necessary addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in architecture—celebrates this spirit of endurance and serves as a reminder that building well and leaving something of consequence behind, whether a building, a design, or an idea, is still of the utmost importance.




Building the Italian Renaissance


Book Description

Building the Italian Renaissance focuses on the competition to select a team to execute the final architectural challenge of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore--the erection of its dome. Although the model for the dome was widely known, the question of how this was to be accomplished was the great challenge of the age. This dome would be the largest ever built. This is foremost a technical challenge but it is also a philosophical one. The project takes place at an important time for Florence. The city is transitioning from a High Medieval world view into the new dynamics and ideas and will lead to the full flowering of what we know as the Renaissance. Thus the competition at the heart of this game plays out against the background of new ideas about citizenship, aesthetics, history (and its application to the present), and new technology. The central challenge is to expose players to complex and multifaceted situations and to individuals that animated life in Florence in the early 1400s. Humanism as a guiding philosophy is taking root and scholars are looking for ways to link the mercantile city to the glories of Rome and to the wisdom of the ancients across many fields. The aesthetics of the classical world (buildings, plastic arts and intellectual pursuits) inspired wonder, perhaps even envy, but the new approaches to the past by scholars such as Petrarch suggested that perhaps the creative classes are not simply crafts people, but men of ideas. Three teams compete for the honor to construct the dome, a project overseen by the Arte Della Lana (wool workers guild) and judged by them and a group of Florentine citizens who are merchants, aristocrats, learned men, and laborers. Their goal is to make the case for the building to live up to the ideals of Florence. The game gives students a chance to enter into the world of Florence in the early 1400s to develop an understanding of the challenges and complexity of such a major artistic and technical undertaking while providing an opportunity to grasp the interdisciplinary nature of major public works.




Cathedral


Book Description

A sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, earthly desire, and the construction of a Cathedral in medieval Germany. At the center of this story is the Cathedral. Its design and construction in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the Rhineland town of Hagenburg unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose fortunes are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy. From the bishop to his treasurer to local merchants and lowly stonecutters, everyone, even the town’s Jewish denizens, is implicated and affected by the slow rise of Hagenburg’s Cathedral, which in no way enforces morality or charity. Around this narrative center, Ben Hopkins has constructed his own monumental edifice, a novel that is rich with the vicissitudes of mercantilism, politics, religion, and human enterprise. Fans of Umberto Eco, Hilary Mantel, and Ken Follett will delight at the atmosphere, the beautiful prose, and the vivid characters of Ben Hopkins’s Cathedral. “Cathedral is a brilliantly organized mess of great, great characters. It is fascinating, fun, and gripping to the very end.” —Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize–winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha “A varied cast of hugely engaging characters jostle for status, rising and falling according to the whims of pirates and Popes. An immersive, old-fashioned read that rattles along at a cracking pace.” —Richard Beard, author of Lazarus is Dead and The Day That Went Missing “Six hundred pages sounds long, but this deeply human take on a medieval city and its commerce and aspirations, its violent battles and small intimacies, never feels that way. This sweeping work is as impressive as the cathedral at its center.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review, PW Pick




Lincoln Cathedral


Book Description

A personal exploration of Lincoln Cathedral's unique character and history. Lincoln is one of Britain's greatest cathedrals, its three towers and formidable west front dominating the surrounding plains from its commanding hilltop position. It was largely built over the course of a century, up to the completion of the glorious Angel Quire in 1280. Architectural historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle regards Lincoln Cathedral as an old and valued friend and writes with deep knowledge and passion about the developing character of the building. He shows how innovative and experimental the grand thirteenth-century rebuild was, influenced not only by spectacular contemporary work at Canterbury, but also by changing political and spiritual values, and by the continental travels and experience of individual bishops. AUTHOR: Dr Jonathan Foyle is an architectural historian, broadcaster and advocate for heritage sites and a Visiting Professor at the University of Lincoln. His programmes on historic architecture include the award-winning BBC series Climbing Great Buildings and Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer. He also writes for the Financial Times. SELLING POINTS: * A fascinating and personal study of one of Britain's greatest cathedrals * Written by broadcaster and Chief Executive of the World Monuments Fund Britain, Jonathan Foyle * Illustrated with specially commissioned photography, comparative and archival images, and the author's own plans and drawings 160 colour




Building Washington National Cathedral


Book Description

Step inside Washington's own Gothic cathedral Despite being built entirely during the 20th century (1907-1990), the techniques used to construct the Washington National Cathedral were the same as those used on the centuries-old Gothic churches in Europe. What powered the larger tools and cranes was different, but otherwise, the processes, ordering, and artistic finishing were almost entirely medieval. The last time a building of this magnitude was built using these techniques, cameras did not exist. Images of America: Building Washington National Cathedral divides the 20th century into decades to detail what must be the first published beginning-to-completion photographic record of the construction of a Gothic cathedral.