Main author
Michael BrooksWhat's so great about the Eiffel Tower? - review
Jonathan Glancey - 'What’s so great about the Eiffel Tower?: 70 questions that will change the way you think about architecture'
Published by Laurence King (2017)
In this compact pocket-sized book, Jonathan Glancey tackles several of architecture’s most sacred cows, inviting readers to reassess their assumptions about some of history’s great masterpieces and their architects.
Taking its title from the oft-repeated anecdote about the writer Guy de Maupassant and the ‘Committee of Three Hundred’ who attacked the ‘useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower’, the book proves that history benefits from fresh interpretation and scrutiny.
Some of the contentious subjects that Glancey explores include; whether the Sagrada Familia is a work of genius or kitsch, whether St. Paul’s Cathedral is a Baroque masterpiece or Renaissance sham, and whether the likes of Le Corbusier, Zaha Hadid and Adolf Loos are really all they’re cracked up to be.
While eschewing detail in favour of brevity, Glancey nevertheless provides enough to engage and enlighten even the most fervent architecture geek. For non-experts, there’s plenty of interesting content that will reward frequent flicking through, and for pub contrarians, there’s more than enough provocation to furnish an arsenal of ‘alternative opinions’.
Glancey, who has previously written books such as ‘New British Architecture’ and ‘Lost Buildings’, writes in an irreverent and light style that successfully balances context and terminology, making the book both very readable and suitable for dipping in and out.
To purchase the book, see Laurence King.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
The average kinetic energy of molecules
Temperature in buildings, explained on DB
Women and unequal pay in project management
Main barrier to entering the profession, new study reveals.
IHBC’s response to Parliamentary Committee
On Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill.
Finalists for 2022 CIOB Awards revealed
Over 70 managers and organisations shortlisted for the 14 awards.
Types of building sensors on BD
From biometric to electrical current, chemical and more.
Government mandates detectors in rented homes
Changes are due to come into force on 1st October 2022.
80% of major government projects are rated red or amber
Heed advice and insight of this report IPA tells the government.
The end of the games but continued calls for action
From the Commonwealth Association of Architects.
CIOB respond to the government call for evidence
For the Levelling Up, Housing & Communities Committee.
How are buildings and their occupants responding to extreme heat?
BSRIA's Technical Director reflects on recent weather patterns.
Landownership in England in 1909
A national valuation to fund old-age pensions.
The world’s largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing.
Long after the end of the defects liability period.
BSRIA Occupant Wellbeing survey BOW
Occupant satisfaction and wellbeing in buildings.
Geometric form and buildings in brief
From the simple to the complex.
Understanding the changing nature of insulation
And the UK Government guidelines.
Three year action plan to improve equity, diversity and inclusion
Commitment agreed to by major built environment bodies.
The Construction Route – what needs to change?
Electrical skills, low carbon, high-tech and the building services revolution.
Deep geothermal power possibilities
Ultra-deep drilling with millimeter-wave beam technology.
BSRIA Briefing 2022- From the outside looking in
Looking at the built environment from space.
Competence requirements for principal contractors and designers
BSI standards 8671, 8672 and 8673.
Bringing life to burial grounds.
From failed modernism to twenty-minute neighbourhoods.
Design chill and design freeze
The gates process and change control.