Mike Fazio, a professor in the College of Architecture, has collaborated with two Tennessee colleagues to produce a book more accurately dealing with the general history of architecture.
“Buildings Across Time” introduces architecture from around the globe, including pre-Colombian, Japanese, Hindu, and several other cultures that are rarely addressed in texts.
The book illustrates these different styles of architecture by including over 600 illustrations and more than 350-line drawings throughout the book. An interactive CD-ROM is also included with the book to provide additional art and text, as well as links to related Web sites.
“We wrote the book in what we hope is a very language-accessible, very easy way for a person to pick it up and learn from architecture,” Fazio said.
“Unlike all other general architectural texts on the market, BAT includes introductory coverage of traditional architecture in non-western traditions of India, China, and Japan, as well as the pre-Columbian Americas, in addition to the more customary Western tradition from prehistory to the later 20th century,” said Marian Moffett, co-author of the book.
“This is not new information in the strictest sense, but the inclusion of most world architectures in a single volume is noteworthy. The book comes with an interactive CD-ROM that contains study material additional illustrative material, and review exercises disguised as computer games that we hope will make learning enjoyable,” Moffett continued.
Significantly, many of the architectural eras and subjects included in “Buildings Across Time” are being emphasized for the first time in a survey text. For example, the pre-Columbian period of Native Americans includes structures ranging from the Central American Mayas to the North American tribes of the Mississippi River Basin, as well as Arctic and Sub-arctic Tribes.
“There are two reasons this book is unique: it’s inclusive, not just covering Western architecture, and it is also readable, with specialists and non-specialists being able to read it,” Fazio said.
According to Moffett, the book was written for students in architecture or art programs in which a survey of history is a normal part of the undergraduate curriculum. However, because the book assumes no prior knowledge of architecture, it is also suitable for the general reader who is interested in architecture.
The process of the book’s was unique; it was edited in New York City, produced in London, published in Hong Kong, and the CD was developed in Bowling Green, Ohio, added Fazio.
Fazio is a former Cornell University doctoral graduate who joined MSU in 1974.
He became involved with the two-year cooperative effort to produce a 600-page design survey recently released by publisher McGraw-Hill for use by both students and general readers.
Marian Moffett and Lawrence Wodehouse, faculty members in the University of Tennessee’s College of Architecture and Design, both collaborated with Fazio in bringing the book to print.
Wodehouse’s previous volume in which he co-authored, “A History of Western Architecture,” published in 1989, was revised and expanded to become “Buildings Across Time,” using a number of his photographs in the illustrations.
While writing the book, Fazio concentrated on the time period stretching from the Renaissance to the present. Moffett was responsible for writing the sections spanning from prehistory through the Middle Ages.
Fazio commented it was easy to work with Moffett and Wodehouse because they had been friends and colleagues together for years.
Moffett agreed, saying, “This book owes a great deal to Michael Fazio, who stepped in to share the work with me when Larry Wodehouse retired from teaching. Fazio’s contributions to the text, illustrations and line art have been invaluable-and on top of that, he’s a first-class colleague in architectural history. I feel very fortunate to have such a friend.”
For more details about the book, visit http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/.