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Publisher: Routledge, Abingdon, 2007, £49.50 $90.
ISBN: 978 0 415 41151 6
I have to admit to thinking "where do I start here?" when asked to review the Atlas of Vernacular Architecture (AVAW ), but as I read it became easy to see where. This book does what it says on the tin and looks at vernacular architecture trends across the world using cartography.
AVAW augments the previously published Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World (EVAW ) ([1] Oliver, 1997), which won the Sir Bannister Fletcher Award in 1998. There are 69 maps in AVAW that illustrate all sections of volume one of EVAW. It is stated that this book was written to help further research in vernacular architecture.
The authors of AVAW hold impressive credentials. Marcel Vellinga and Paul Oliver are both involved with vernacular architecture at Oxford Brookes University. Vellinga is Director of the University's Vernacular Architecture Unit and Oliver is a visiting professor. Both are published authors in this subject with Oliver authoring the award winning precursor EVAW . Alexander Bridge is a cartographic designer and graphic artist and won an award for outstanding performance by a student at higher level by the British Cartographic Society.
The book starts by listing the 21 strong Advisory Board and six Consultants that helped produce the work. After more than a page of acknowledgements there is an introduction of about ten and a half pages explaining that the subject of vernacular architecture...