Architecture has long since to amuse me but many years ago during the big
Turkish
Earthquake in 1999 it was high on the agenda and the architects
were called in during and after the
quake to fix up what remained of
the
buildings and cities I was in ... during this disaster ... during the quake
I left the building with my students by the main door and stood outside well clear of the crumbing buildings and made sure to keep my wits about me ..... I proceeded to my flat where we were all prepared to jump out the window if that building crashed including the
architectural team present at that time ... in order words a sense of humour is important!
This book shows
illustrations of famous buildings .... The Mint in the USA in
San Francisco California, USA before the Earthquake in San Francisco of 1906 ... this earthquake devasted the City of San Francisco and efforts of dedicated people
i.e. staff protected San Francisco Buildings and $308 m in gold in the UK Mint in San Francisco ... refers me back to Turkey where we too had to hold on to our money,
brief cases, students, paperwork and ID etc. we did manage to preserve some of Turkey but a lot of it was devasted ... we will have to go back to rebuilding I guess!
Silicon Valley, and its buildings are well illustrated ... and its interesting to note the changes in US
Architecture ... too ... I had visited San Francisco and lived there in the 1970s ... and it was really an
amazing city full of wonderful housing and its amazing transport system .... I drove my car up and down and around the streets of San Francisco ... but was taken aback a bit to see that the whole scene had changed considerably since I had lived there in 1974 ... I guess, more quakes and more
changes ..... I went out to the Cafes and Theatre with my family and much of these
buildings looked highly
original to me ... but I suppose they have been somewhat
"fixed up" during the history of San Francisco and its quake after effects ...
This is an excellent book full of illustrations and discusses many facets of architecture suitable both for the lover and student of architecture, and its projects ...
Excellent stuff .. keep on reading the books ..
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