During the Industrial Revolution, Britain was at the forefront of bridge innovation. Pioneering designers such as George and Robert Stephenson, Thomas Telford and Isambard Kingdom Brunel created Britain's rich bridge heritage that features many world firsts and we can learn much from their ground-breaking designs. Written by an experienced bridge architect, this book includes an introduction to bridge aesthetics; it gives an outline of British bridge development and advice on parapet treatment and bridge lighting. This book offers a comprehensive overview of how the best of British bridges marry aesthetic considerations with engineering ingenuity.

In pre-Revolutionary War America, libraries were member-driven collections for the elite; it was not until 1790 that Benjamin Franklin helped to establish the first public lending library. Throughout the subsequent centuries the library has evolved, but always remained central to the cultural life of the nation. Thomas R. Schiff 's photographs trace the history of the library through aesthetic and style while featuring legendary architects such as Charles F. McKim; Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge; and I. M. Pei. The Library Book beautifully captures the shifting architectural styles and missions of the library in sweeping 360-degree panoramas-from the very earliest American libraries to the modernist masterpieces of Louis I. Kahn and others. In his introductory essay, acclaimed author and library lover Alberto Manguel considers the story of the library in America, its evolving architecture and cultural role, and how the American model reflects the archetypal idea of the universal library. Including brief descriptions of each unique library, this book brings bibliophiles into one hundred libraries across the nation.

Microclimate for Cultural Heritage: Measurement, Risk Assessment, Conservation, Restoration, and Maintenance of Indoor and Outdoor Monuments, Third Edition, presents the latest on microclimates, environmental issues and the conservation of cultural heritage. It is a useful treatise on microphysics, acting as a practical handbook for conservators and specialists in physics, chemistry, architecture, engineering, geology and biology who focus on environmental issues and the conservation of works of art. It fills a gap between the application of atmospheric sciences, like the thermodynamic processes of clouds and dynamics of planetary boundary layer, and their application to a monument surface or a room within a museum. Sections covers applied theory, environmental issues and conservation, practical utilization, along with suggestions, examples, common issues and errors.

This guidance is intended for anyone interested in or responsible for the care of war memorials. This might include parish, local and district councils, conservation professionals, contractors, statutory bodies, volunteer groups or private owners. Although the guidance covers the setting of war memorials, more detailed information on landscape issues can be found in the publication The Conservation and Management of War Memorial Landscapes. When it refers to `custodians', the document is addressing anyone who has taken on formal responsibility for a war memorial, whether or not they are its legal owner. The guidance describes current best practice on the understanding, assessment, planning and implementation of conservation work to memorials as well as their ongoing maintenance and protection. It also outlines the legal frameworks and statutory duties that relate to their ownership and care. War memorials have always had a deep emotional resonance with the people of this country. Whether on a national, civic or local level, they act as constant reminders of the ultimate price of war - collective monuments to the many lives lost as well as a means of remembering the names of the individual servicemen and women who paid that price. The majority of war memorials date from the 20th century, and most of those from the years after the First World War. National and city memorials were generally monumental in concept and size but in towns and villages they tended to be more modest in style. Whatever their appearance, they continue to act as focal points for the commemoration of those killed and affected by war and as places for reflection on the effects of their loss on a community and society as a whole. In addition to their continuing commemorative role, many war memorials are of significant architectural, historic or artistic quality and have become key parts of the historic environment; it is therefore important that their physical condition should be safeguarded for the benefit of future generations as well as our own.

A glorious illustrated history of sixteen of the world's greatest cathedrals, interwoven with the extraordinary stories of the people who built them. 'An impeccable guide to the golden age of ecclesiastical architecture' The Times 'Vivid, colourful and absorbing' Dan Jones 'An epic ode to some of our most beautiful and beloved buildings' Helen Carr The emergence of the Gothic in twelfth-century France, an architectural style characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, flying buttresses, large windows and elaborate tracery, triggered an explosion of cathedral-building across western Europe. It is this remarkable flowering of ecclesiastical architecture that forms the central core of Emma Wells's authoritative but accessible study of the golden age of the cathedral. Prefacing her account with the construction in the sixth century of the Hagia Sophia, the remarkable Christian cathedral of the eastern Roman empire, she goes on to chart the construction of a glittering sequence of iconic structures, including Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame, Canterbury, Chartres, Salisbury, York Minster and Florence's Duomo. More than architectural biographies, these are human stories of triumph and tragedy that take the reader from the chaotic atmosphere of the mason's yard to the cloisters of power. Together, they reveal how 1000 years of cathedral-building shaped modern Europe, and influenced art, culture and society around the world.