If you practice building renovation, rehabilitation, or preservation, you need to understand the specifics of obsolete construction in order to work in a nondestructive and unobtrusive manner.Historical Building Construction encourages the design of "elegant" and safe solutions to the structural problems caused by changes in use, changes in architectural design, or changes in the mechanical plant. It enables modern engineers to understand what assumptions their predecessors made, what materials they used, how they designed structures, and how their designs were built. Architects renovating older buildings, while not usually responsible for structural design, need to understand the design restrictions forced on them by the original structures. A guide to the physical construction of buildings from the 1840s to the present, Historical Building Construction uses narrative, drawings, and photographs to describe the development of masonry, wood, and steel construction, modern curtain walls and concrete slabs, and the use of cast iron and patented floor construction. It provides case histories to show how this information is applied to actual projects, ranging from brownstones to skyscrapers. In order to show a consistent and well-documented set of examples evolving in chronological order, New York City is used as model, since many examples of obsolete forms are still available for examination. The general information given applies, with few exceptions, to buildings of the same types built all over the United States during the same period, and these are referenced as needed. Every designer who works on old structures or studies them will find in Historical Building Construction help in the process of analyzing existing conditions in a building and suggestions for dealing with what lies hidden behind floor, wall, and ceiling finishes.

Product Description: The tragic events of September 11, 2001, have forever changed the lives of the individuals and families that were directly affected and have changed history for everyone. Those same events began a 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week effort by structural engineers to investigate the condition of the buildings remaining at the World Trade Center site, to work with the rescue and clean-up crews in evaluating the safety of the towering piles of rubble, and to try to explain what happened to the buildings as they collapsed...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: An essential reference for building professionals, owners, managers, and individuals planning to purchase or renovate a building An experienced investigator explains why buildings should be inspected, what to look for, how to do it, when to hire a professional, and how to understand what architects and engineers are talking about once a survey has been carried out...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Middle-aged personal injuray attorney Farbman reevaluates his life after his estranged wife becomes critically ill

Traces the construction of the Empire State Building, which was completed in eleven months, and presents highlights from the notebooks of the firm that built it (view table of contents)

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