The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture

Although architect Curl (architectural history, Sch. of Architecture and Design, Ulster Univ., Northern Ireland; emeritus, architectural history, De Montfort Univ., Leicester, England) has compiled two previous dictionaries of architecture for this publisher (1999, 2006), his preface argues that this work is more than a new edition: it endorses wider historical context and deeper intellectual content in architectural education and practice. Most users will simply seek the wealth of erudite, crystalline information (with rare flashes of opinion) here. Wilson's (architectural historian and researcher; ADAM Architecture) contributions broaden landscape architecture coverage (including Japanese, Islamic, Egyptian, Zen, and Chinese garden design entries). Though the work offers 900 new entries, biographies of living architects no longer appear (though background summaries still dominate the pages). The inclusion of the 2006 preface and 127 pages of bibliography (expanding the brief citations after entries) serves scholars; more than 200 line drawings, plans, and cross-sections will delight browsers and clarify structural explanations. Entries range from the basic (footings) to the arcane (ginnell; begunets; hypaethral); company-town, shopping-mall and theme-park garner attention. Exceptionally, the Pantheon in Rome and Levittown, NY, merit individual treatment, but overall, the work focuses on elements and features rather than specific buildings. Efforts to look beyond European architecture are apparent in the inclusion of Buddhist, Hindu, Mixtec, Aztec, Mayan (but not Incan), and other extracontinental entries. Naturally, there are omissions: an entry for shoin, but not skywell (not even under atrium); one for tokonoma but not tulou. The recognition accorded non-Western architecture is perhaps all that is possible for a volume that, at over 1,000 pages, is reaching the limits of portability.