The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture

Containing over 6,000 entries from Aalto to Zwinger and written in a clear and concise style, this authoritative dictionary covers architectural history in detail, from ancient times to the present day. It also includes concise biographies of hundreds of architects from history (excluding living persons), fromSir Francis Bacon and Imhotep to Liang Ssu-ch'eng andFrancis Inigo Thomas. The text is complemented by over 260 beautiful and meticulous line drawings, labelled cross-sections, and diagrams. These include precise drawings of typical building features, making it easy for readers to identify particular period styles.

This third edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture has been extensively revised and expanded, with over 900 new entries including hundreds of definitions of garden and landscape terms such asBaroque garden, floral clock, hortus conclusus, andZen garden-design. Each entry is followed by a mini-bibliography, with suggestions for further reading. The full bibliography to the first edition (previously only available online) has also been fully updated and expanded, and incorporated into this new edition.

This is an essential work of reference for anyone with an interest in architectural and garden history. With clear descriptions providing in-depth analysis, it is invaluable for students, professional architects, art historians, and anyone interested in architecture and garden design, and provides a fascinating wealth of information for the general reader.

Professor James Stevens Curl is a leading architectural historian. His many books includeFunerary Monuments & Memorials in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (2013);Freemasonry & the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences (2011-an earlier version of which won (1992) the Sir Banister Fletcher Award as Best Book of the Year);Spas, Wells, & Pleasure-Gardens of London (2010); Victorian Architecture: Diversity & Invention (2007); andThe Honourable The Irish Society and the Plantation of Ulster, 1608-2000 (2000). He contributed to, and edited, the scholarly monographKensal Green Cemetery: The Origins and Development of the General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green, London, 1824-2001 (2001), the first major study of any nineteenth-century cemetery in the world. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, was twice Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, and is currently Professor of Architecture at the University of Ulster.

Dr. Susan Wilson is an historian with an especial interest in garden architecture, landscape aesthetics, and places of commemoration. Her doctorate was conferred (2010) by the University of Bristol for her study of the 'Swiss Garden Cottage: the origins of the chalet-style in British architecture'. She published her early findings inExercises in Translation: Swiss-British Cultural Exchange (2006). In 2013 she chaired an interdisciplinary conference-session on theRustic Tradition in Garden Art in New York. She taught the history of the applied and decorative arts at Chelsea College of Art and Design (2000-6), and gained recognition for her teaching practice as a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (2007). She has collaborated with Professor Stevens Curl on this edition of the Dictionary since 2012. Awarded (2012) the Opler Grant for Emerging Scholars by the Society of Architectural Historians (USA), she is also an Academic Member of the Landscape Institute.