And the large and spacious building, which thy father saw, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever. Book of Mormon I Nephi 12:18
The tallest building in the world is now in Dubai, the biggest factory in the world is in China, the largest oil refinery is in India, the largest investment fund in the world is in Abu Dhabi, the largest Ferris wheel in the world is in Singapore. Fareed Zakaria
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. Winston Churchill
We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it. John Ruskin
Wright named his building Falling Water: it would eventually become the most famous modern house in the world. And he had drawn it all in less than three hours. Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, Frank Lloyd Wright II, PBS 1998
Divine in form, sacred in function: holy buildings are amongst the most beautiful and the most enduring achievements of mankind. John McCarthy, Art of Faith: Islam, Sky Arts 2008
The Muslims built the first great masterpiece of Islamic art: the Dome of the Rock. ibid.
One of the most significant of these early mosques was built at Kairouan in modern Tunisia. ibid.
Everyone calls this the Blue Mosque but it’s official name is Sultan Ahmed Mosque. ibid.
The Taj Mahal ... remains serene, glowing and glorious, a sublime achievement of beauty and faith. ibid.
Assyafaah Mosque, Singapore: completed in 2004. ibid.
They are centres for communities and venues for learning. ibid.
It is the golden age of Greece. A unique window of time that gives birth to Western ideals of beauty, science, art and a radical new form of government – democracy. Nova: Secrets of the Parthenon, PBS 2008
The Parthenon ranks as the most copied building in the world. ibid.
The Parthenon was built as the crowning achievement of classical Greece. ibid.
Marble beams that span the columns as well as the architectural elements above them are curved. ibid.
Since it was built in the 5th century B.C.E. it has been shot at, exploded, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, converted to a church, then a mosque, and in the nineteenth century looted for its magnificent sculptures. ibid.
A former general emerges as leader – Pericles. He spearheads an ambitious campaign to rebuild Athens and ushers in the golden age of Greece. ibid.
The largest building in the world constructed entirely of marble. ibid.
Why are these builders deliberately constructing their temples with curves and few right angels? ibid.
How did the ancients sculpt it with such precision and speed? ibid.
45 Doric feet = 48 common feet = 50 Ionic feet. ibid.
The ratio of height to width on its facades is a golden ratio. ibid.
The Elgin Marbles are in the British Museum to this day. ibid.
Buildings designed with careful attention to aesthetics arouse and enliven their occupants and that promotes their good health. Robert Evans
Hampton Court Palace, Britain's finest Tudor building, will be five hundred years old. For more than two centuries this was a pleasure palace for the nation's monarchs. Britain’s Tudor Treasure: A Night at Hampton Court, BBC 2015
Japan leads the world in designing buildings that can withstand the earthquake. Professor Iain Stewart, Japan Earthquake: A Horizon Special, BBC 2011
This was a huge earthquake. And comparatively few buildings fell down. ibid.
Ten of the twenty largest cities in the world are located in seismic danger zones. For the millions of people living on tectonic boundaries, the risk of earthquake is inescapable. ibid.
We can anticipate them. And we can build for them. ibid.
Famed for its almost perfect symmetry. Known the world over as the symbol of India ... Yet the identity of the architect is one of the monument’s greatest mysteries. Mystery Files: Taj Mahal, National Geographic 2011
The Taj Mahal is perhaps one of the most public declarations of lost love ever seen. But the myth has it the Shah is not yet finished: he plans a second monument across the Jumna River ... The legend of the Black Taj. ibid.
The midnight garden and pool complete the Taj Mahal complex. ibid.
Concrete has been used as a building material for over four thousand years ... It can be moulded in almost any shape ... Steel is unbelievably strong under tension. Everyday Miracles: The Genius of of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners I, BBC 2015
Plywood is another everyday miracle ... The glue bonds with the woods fibres and sets hard ... Strength, flexibility and mouldability ... The Mosquito was the fastest aircraft in the world, and the secret to its success was that it was made almost entirely of plywood ... All because of the remarkable properties of plywood. ibid.
Even at night, the construction work goes on in Gurgaon – big lights shine down from towers, and dust rises from pits, scaffolding is being erected, and men and animals, both shaken from their sleep and bleary and insomniac, go around and around carrying concrete rubble or bricks. Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger p192
There is construction everywhere. Piles of mud everywhere. Pile of stones. Piles of bricks. The entire city is masked in smoke, smog, powder, cement dust. It is under a veil. When the veil is lifted, what will Bangalore be like? ibid. p317
The new Dubai hosts glitzy visitors from all over the world ... Construction projects that are multiplying like a rampant virus down the coast and into the desert. Misha Glenny, McMafia
In many of the building zones, foreigners would be permitted to purchase property, and hold the freehold. The frenzy began. ibid.
One-third of the world’s cranes were working in Dubai ... The overpowering sense of science fiction is further enhanced by the armies of robotic workers, crawling all over the construction sites. ibid.
They are then packed back to their barracks in Ahman, where they are expected to provide and cook their own food. The conditions are subhuman. About sixty men are required to share one stinking toilet ... Eight to fifteen men live in one room. ibid.
The air was full of the sounds of hammering and sawing, the ringing of trowels, the rattle of pails, the slashing of water brushes, and the scraping of the stripping knives used by those who were removing the old wallpaper. Besides being full of these sounds the air was heavily laden with dust and disease germs, powdered mortar, lime, plaster, and the dirt that had been accumulating within the old house for years. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
As well as the money, there was the will to build on an industrial scale. Andrew Graham-Dixon, Art of Scandinavia III: Democratic by Design, BBC 2016
One of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs created this impossibly vast monument to himself at Abu Simbel … The largest temple ever carved out of solid rock. Ancient Impossible: Monster Monuments s1e2, History 2014
Stonehenge: it appears to be a structure years ahead of its time. ibid.
‘These stones from this quarry were transported well over a hundred miles.’ ibid.
A 2000-year-old concrete dome found in the centre of Rome – it’s called the Pantheon. ibid.
The Egyptians built more than a hundred pyramids across their kingdom. ibid.
How could ancient civilisations have built huge structures … produced thousands of chariots with assembly-line precision … Why would the Romans have created a massive underground industrial hell, where thousands of slaves never saw daylight? Ancient Impossible: Biggest Builds s1e5
Using concrete on a large scale underwater … two thousand years ago. ibid.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. But I wasn’t on that particular job. Brian Clough
It’s a building, that’s all. Not people. The Secret Agent II, anarchist to anarchist, BBC 2016