It is full of detailed drawings that clearly illustrate the construction of building elements. The principles and processes of construction are explained with the concepts of design included where appropriate. Extensive coverage of building construction practice and techniques, representing both traditional procedures and modern developments, are also included to provide the most comprehensive and easy to understand guide to building construction. The new edition has been reviewed and updated and includes additional material on energy conservation, sustainable construction, environmental and green building issues. Further details of fire protection to elements of construction are provided.Building Construction Handbook is an essential text for undergraduate and vocational students on a wide range of courses including NVQ and BTEC National, through Higher National Certificate and Diploma to Foundation and three-year Degree level. It is also a useful practice reference for building designers, contractors and others engaged in the construction industry. It is ideal for students on all construction courses. The topics are presented concisely in plain language and with clear drawings. It incorporates recent revisions to Building and Construction Regulations.

    Taking as his starting point dramatic examples such as the High Line in New York City and the outrageous island experiment of Dubai, Moore then reaches far and wide: back in time to explore the Covent Garden brothels of eighteenth-century London and the fetishistic minimalism of Adolf Loos; across the world to assess a software magnate's grandiose mansion in Atlanta and Daniel Libeskind's failed design for the World Trade Center site; and finally to the deeply naturalistic work of Lina Bo Bardi, whom he celebrates as the most underrated architect of the modern era.Just published in the UK, Why We Build is already being hailed as a vibrant new classic:"Moore's writing is lively and engaging, his language straightforward, his case studies unpredictable and instructive. . . . Moore certainly knows how to make these sacred monsters come alive on the page."-The Evening Standard (London)"Mischievous . . . [Moore] has a lot to offer those who like verbal flexibility and thought-provoking aphorisms. . . . Elegant and witty, with a sometimes eighteenth-century sensuality, this is a hard-hitting book with great panache." -The Daily Telegraph"Elegantly written. . . . What Moore explores with insight and wit [is] the DESIRE to build. The emotions carrying it. The drive for beauty, monumentality, display, a kind of immortality." -The New Humanist"[A] fresh analytic approach [that is] engaging, outrageous, wise, very probably true and rather important ." -Country LifeReaders will never look at architecture the same way again.