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Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making
Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making

Exploring Architecture, Buildings Meanings and Making

£19.99

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Orders placed today are expected to arrive after Christmas

Architecture plays a key role in shaping our environment. Covering ancient and modern architecture from across the world, this book examines its very essence in a new way, opening buildings up to reveal what lies behind their design. It introduces the ideas that underpin the concept of architecture, adopting a thematic approach that deals in turn with the functions, the meanings, the structural and the social aspects of buildings. Architecture is an art, expressing most clearly the values of its age, as in the great cathedrals of the middle ages or the corporate headquarters of today. Buildings work directly on our emotions, filling us with awe or serenity; they also help us to organize our crowded lives. Architecture is an expression of our place in the world, our environment and our beliefs.This book explores the aesthetics and techniques of architecture, tracing its response to new ways of living, new developments in technology, new environmental concerns. Lavishly illustrated, based on the unequalled architectural resources of the RIBA and V&A, it is structured in four sections: Buildings and functions; Architecture as art; Creating Buildings; and Buildings Together (in cities and towns). The result is an original and stimulating book: a refreshingly contemporary approach for the new century.

Author/Artist/Designer

Eleanor Gawne and Michael Snodin

Pages

192 pages

Dimensions

26.8 x 21.2 x 1.6 cm

ISBN

9781851774357

Colour

Product code

69133

Delivery

 

Orders placed today are expected to arrive after Christmas. Our recommended last order date was 14 December. For last minute gifts, you can still visit our museum shops until 23 Dec, or explore digital options such as Gift Membership.

 

Our standard delivery charges and estimated timescales are as follows. Selected product exceptions apply; see product details. International deliveries may also be subject to customs fees, tariffs or taxes upon arrival, which are your responsibility.

Standard delivery per order
UK
£5 – or FREE for orders over £60
*5-14 working days
*Due to the busy festive season our shipping is taking longer than usual. This estimate also factors in upcoming days with no service.
Europe & Northern Ireland
Temporarily suspended while we update for GPSR
Temporarily suspended while we update for GPSR
USA
Temporarily suspended for a change in tariff regulations
Temporarily suspended for a change in tariff regulations
Rest of World
£30
10-14 working days

Custom prints

 

Each print is made to order and dispatched separately to other V&A Shop products, for UK delivery only. The charges and estimated timescales below are in addition to our standard delivery charge when bought together with a V&A Shop product. However, delivery is free for all orders over £60.

Custom print delivery (UK only)
Unframed
£9 per order – or FREE for orders over £60
6-10 working days
Framed
£15 per print – or FREE for orders over £60
6-10 working days

 

Returns

 

An extended returns window is granted for purchases over the Christmas period. Orders placed from Saturday 1 November 2025 can be returned until Tuesday 20 January 2026, subject to our usual eligibility criteria.

We hope you are happy with your V&A Shop purchase. However, if you are not, most items are eligible for a full refund, subject to the criteria below. Refunds are offered for items in an unused, unopened condition, and with original packaging – with the following exceptions. This does not affect your statutory rights.

The following items are excluded from our returns policy and cannot be refunded unless faulty, damaged, or not as described:

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