This beautifully textured book presents a fun visual exploration of the aesthetics and versatility of concrete through 180 structures from ancient Rome to the present day. The selected projects take the reader on a global tour of inspiring and intriguing structures: a German skatepark sits beside an Italian rooftop test track, a Japanese crematorium alongside a Portuguese swimming pool and a Brazilian government building next to a Chinese opera house.

This hardcover book measures 9¾ inches by 11½ inches. Published September 3, 2012.

Brand: Phaidon

Origin: Imported

Phaidon

Phaidon’s empire of world-renowned books on food, architecture, fashion, design and travel complement the publisher’s beginnings. Named after Socrates’s pupil Phaedo, who was known for his discourses on immortality, this London-based publishing house got its start in 1923 as a producer of high quality, reasonably priced literature, philosophy, and history books. In 1936 it added art to its repertoire, publishing some of the first monographs of Van Gogh and Botticelli. All volumes pair erudite text with breathtaking photography; a perennial favorite is Phaidon’s stunning, large-scale Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture.