Adventures in architecture - Dan Cruickshank

Dan takes us to the buildings he believes have changed the world, revealing how in truly great buildings function, material and purpose connect to all other parts of life - showing how architecture is the richest and most complex of man's artistic endeavours. Do his chosen buildings live up to expectation, or does he find disappointment and lost ideals?

Architecture is an art, a science and a craft. But buildings also have to fulfil a function, cater for human use, withstand the forces of nature, and be built to a budget. Dan considers all these aspects as he looks at places, some well known, many less so, as varied as the Catherine Palace in St Petersburg, the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, the Hanging Temple in Shanxi in China, Astana in Kazakhstan, Brasilia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the Lupanare Brothels in Pompeii, and the building of an igloo, man's earliest exercise in the creation of shelter, in Greenland.