Description

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An original account of ancient Egyptian and Sumerian architecture from the acclaimed architectural historian

In The Beginnings of Architecture, Sigfried Giedion examines the architecture of ancient Egypt and Sumer. These early builders expressed an attitude of immense force when they confronted their structures with open sky. Giedion argues that it was during these periods that the problem of constancy and change flared up with an intensity unknown in any other period of history, and resolved eventually into the first architectural space conception, the automatic, psychic recording of the visual environment.

About the Author

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Sigfried Giedion (1888-1968) was an eminent critic and historian of architecture and art who had a major influence on architectural modernism. His books include Space, Time, and Architecture and Mechanization Takes Command. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and ETH Zurich.