50 great adventures

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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.