Building on the Sea : Form and Meaning in Modern Ship Architecture

Building on the Sea Form and Meaning in Modern Ship Architecture Peter Quartermaine This is the first book to discuss twentieth-century merchant ship design in broad relation to developments in contemporary architecture and design. Uniquely, it also includes extensive discussion of cargo vessels, whereas writers have usually concentrated on passenger liners of various kinds. It also considers the role that the sea and ships play in twentieth-century culture, and examines the iconography of the ship in contemporary society, especially in the context of the growth in popularity of holiday cruising. Writing on ships often stresses history and heritage while neglecting modern innovations in ship design, as well as the continuing centrality of shipping enterprise in national and international trade. By contrast, this is a book for all those interested in the modern built environment, whose every aspect consciously or unconsciously reflects our own priorities and aspirations. In the maritime context, however, this environment is both mobile and transitory: that it leaves few monuments makes informed understanding especially important. Shipping today is more international than ever before in construction, operation and management, and ship designs reflect a constantly-evolving balance of well-tried principles and experiment. This book discusses the essential practicalities of ship design and explores its contemporary cultural significance; in seeking to reclaim the modern ship as architecture it also celebrates the commercial enterprise that shapes this uniquely-neglected dimension of contemporary design.