‘The Great Builders’

From Sinan and his mosques to Sullivan and his skyscrapers, The Great Builders, edited by Kenneth Powell, profiles 40 canonical architects and engineers and their structural legacies. Similarities among them include an interdisciplinary mind (who knew of Eiffel’s Indian summer as a meteorologist?), the influence of nature (cf. Viollet-le-Duc’s study of an alpine peak’s crystalline structure), and, for now, the XY chromosomes. The study fascinates most when detailing dreams deferred—for example, Schinkel’s unbuilt Crimean palace for Tsarina Alexandra and the “Plan for Tokyo” by Kenzo Tange that’s hard to fathom. $40.00; Thames & Hudson, October 2011