Nuts and bolts of construction history (English edition, 3 volumes)

It defends a history of construction open all cultures, desiring to balance the engineering sciences with the humanities and social sciences.

It seeks to update existing axes of research by taking into account the profound changes sweeping across our planet through the framework of sustainable developpment and cohabitation.

Building is thus excavated by archaeologists, leafed through by archivists and construed by historians and practitioners. They are all there, men and women, both famous and forgotten : masons, carpenters, locksmiths, roofers, draftsmen, architects, engineers, contractors, developers, experts, economists and lawyers.

Equally present are the forces that have shaped the constructive field : institutions that direct, companies that innovate, work forces that produce and controversies that emerge.

These essays bring to life centuries of a history built, recorded, lived and ruined according to the changing temporalities of cities and sensibilities of societies.

After Madrid (2003), Cambridge (2006) and Cottbus (2009), Paris celebrates in 2012 the 4th International Congress of construction History with this collection.The themes revolve around three pillars : knowledge, people and objects.

Two thousand pages in three volumes covering 12 millennia: a monumental challenge equal to a constructive venture.
Vol.1.Construction history, a field of study / Knowledge & theorization
Vol.2. People & organizations / Materials
Vol.3.Technology