Objekt – serie

As well as much-needed electricity, dams generate extremes of emotion. Traditionally, dams have facilitated hydraulic civilizations such as those in the Nile Valley, China and Mesopotamia, and, in the twentieth century, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Yet with the proliferation of dams – there are now more than 40,000 large dams worldwide – opposition and support can be measured in equal proportion. Their outstanding design and construction, often in inhospitable conditions, is representative of the skills of their engineers, yet others do not see such beauty in the ‘taming’ of rivers. In 1998 the continuing controversy led to the forming of the World Commission on Dams to seek a meeting of minds.Dam, a new addition to Reaktion’s Objekt series, traces the development of dams from the Industrial Revolution to the present day through a number of themes – both successes and failures – including the extension of the design teams forming an alliance between engineering, architecture, landscape architecture and ecology.A profusely illustrated exploration of a previously neglected subject, this book is neither a polemic against dams nor a defence of their proliferation. It offers a fresh and much-needed account of their design, construction and function, which will appeal to general readers and those interested in environmental policy, history and civil engineering.

Theme parks are a uniquely interactive and enduring form of entertainment that have influenced architecture, technology and culture in surprising ways for more than a century, as Scott Lukas now reveals in his compelling book.Theme Park takes the primitive amusements of pleasure gardens as its starting point and launches from there into a rich, in-depth investigation of the evolution of the theme park over the twentieth century. Lukas examines theme parks in countries around the world - including the United States, UK, Europe, Japan, China, South Africa and Australia - and how themed fairs and parks developed through diverse means and in a variety of settings. The book examines world-famous and lesser-known parks, including the early parks of Coney Island, a series of World Fairs and their luxurious exhibition halls, Six Flags parks and virtual theme parks today, and, of course, Disneyland and Walt Disney World.Lukas analyses the theme park as a living entity that unexpectedly shapes people, their relationships and the world around them. Ultimately, Theme Park reveals, the wider influence of theme parks can be found in the shopping malls, branded stores and casinos that employ the techniques of amusement parks to dominate our current entertainment world.Packed with captivating illustrations, Theme Park takes us on a historical roller-coaster ride that both reanimates the places that shaped our childhoods and anticipates the future of escapism and fantasy fun.