Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : Architecture, the unavoidable art -- Part I. The elements of architecture : 1. "Commoditie": How does the building function? -- 2. "Firmness": Structure, or How does the building stand up? -- 3. "Delight": Space in architecture -- 4. "Delight": Seeing architecture -- 5. "Delight": Architectural acoustics, shape, and sound -- 6. The architect: from high priest to profession -- 7. Architecture: Part of the natural environment -- 8. Architecture, memory, and economics -- Chronological table -- Part II. The history and meaning of architecture : 9. The beginnings of architecture: from caves to cities -- 10. The architecture of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt -- 11. Greek architecture -- 12. Roman architecture -- 13. Early Christian and Byzantine architecture -- 14. Medieval architecture -- 15. Renaissance architecture -- 16. Baroque and Rococo architecture -- 17. The origins of modernism: architecture in the age of enlightenment, 1720-1790 -- 18. The development of modernism: the nineteenth century -- 19. Versions of modern architecture, 1914-1970 -- 20. Late-twentieth-century architecture: postmodernism.