Architecture has its styles and epochs-but how can the history of the underlying construction methods be subdivided into particular epochs? The volume, for the first time, investigates whether comparable historical patterns can be made out behind the facades. The focus is on the specific information conveyed to us by the loadbearing structure and construction details to help us better understand various types of buildings. In addition, the authors attempt to discover whether a basic scheme of creation, consolidation, and dissolution of "construction language" can be detected beyond linear models of progression and what the potential of this approach is for a new interpretation of the history of building technology.
