Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0471183490, Hardcover)

This Third Edition of the classic Fundamentals of Building Construction offers a panoramic view of today's construction systems-from foundation to roof, exterior cladding to interior finishes. Every common system of construction is covered, including wood light frame construction, heavy timber, masonry, steel, sitecast concrete, and precast concrete. New chapters offer coverage of light gauge steel frame construction and detailed information on selecting windows and doors.

Architect and author Edward Allen addresses the history, theory, and practice of each type of construction, including typical details of assembly. The lucid text is supported by more than 600 photographs and 400 line drawings, many of them arranged in sequences that illustrate construction operations step-by-step. More than 200 of the illustrations were prepared especially for this new edition. These include photographs of recent work by Horst Berger, Helmut Jahn, Cesar Pelli, Frank Gehry, Eric Owen Moss, Steven Holl, and Suzane Reatig.

This book is an essential reference for students of architecture, civil engineering, and construction technology. It finds everyday use in virtually every architecture firm in North America.