Roman Imperial Architecture (Pelican History of Art)

Rating:
Summary: Sites and Insights
Review: I found this book to be an excellent, even masterly, coverage of the subject. It is bound by its period, but still gives a sense of the continuity of architectural development from the native Italian, Etruscan, Hellenic and particularly the Hellenistic influences on the growth of Roman architecture into and through the Imperial period. It also covers the continuity of architectural styles, technologies and traditions into the Romanesque period.
I liked the way in which the author covered the regional influences on architecture in the various parts of the Roman world, especially contrasting the East, with its substantial existing traditions, styles and techniques, with the "frontier" type of situation in the West, where the new introduction of Roman technologies and styles all but eclipsed those which had gone before.
The author's writing style seemed the relaxed intimations of a man comfortable with his mastery of the material and without the need to prove himself. I found a particular enjoyment in the tone of someone enjoying passing on the details of his favourite subject.
I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the way the Romans solved some of the universal challenges of a built environment.