The great builders A celebration of the lives and careers of forty pioneering designers provides a global tour of the great structures of the world from St. Pauls Cathedral to the Sydney Opera House and the Taj Mahal Seven hundred years of architectural innovation make for an international survey of spectacular scope and depth from the dome of St. Pauls cathedral to the arresting angles of the Sydney Opera House from the monumental Taj Mahal to Kengo Kumas attempts to erase architecture to fortresses bridges and skyscrapers. The contributors include practicing architects and leading academics and their essays focus on the architects and engineers through history who have shaped and transformed the built environment. More than two hundred illustrations of structures famous revolutionary and surprising including original drawings and prints and modern photography bring the works to life. Architectural structures both subtle and spectacular have always been designed with an audience in mind an intent to influence the way we see think move and interact; and the builders themselves can be as fascinating as their creations. Mathematician and visionary philosopher and ecologist nationalist modernist rationalist deconstructivist: the characters behind the buildings are many and varied. Book Description