Significant features of the third edition include:
- Increased global coverage, with new essays on Africa, Japan, China, India, Islamic architecture, and the architecture of the Americas.
- A new chapter covering twenty-first century architecture.
- Updated coverage of sustainable and green architecture and its impact on design.
- Revised historical survey and expanded and illustrated timeline.
- Thoroughly revised and expanded art program, including more than 650 black and white images–135 new to this edition, and more than 200 line art drawings created by author Leland Roth. A new 32-page, full color insert features more than 50 new color images.
Understanding Architecture continues to be the only text in the field to examine architecture as a cultural phenomenon as well as an artistic and technological achievement with its straightforward, two-part structure: The Elements of Architecture and The History and Meaning of Architecture. Comprehensive and clearly written, Understanding Architecture is a classic survey of architecture.