50 Great Adventures

In this unique and visually stimulating volume, 50 built spaces from around the world are explored through the people who created them. Organised according to the idea that architecture is a result of basic human desires to live, work, pray, play, and stay, 50 Great Adventures traces architecture back to the people who made it happen.Offering a global spectrum of illuminating architectural destinations, the book journeys from Lanzarote, home of Cesar Manrique's Jameos del Agua grotto, a James Bond-style fantasy, to India and Nek Chand's Rock Garden of Chandigarh, a realisation of a childhood dream; and from Arizona where Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti, a vision for a utopian community, shimmers in the desert, to China's Forbidden City, conceived by the Ming emperor Yong Le to assert his authority over a vast empire. Useful travel advice accompanies each piece, giving readers all the information they need to experience these extraordinary places for themselves.