The Ten Most Influential Buildings in History ─ Architecture's Archetypes

Even the most inventive and revolutionary architects of today owe debts to the past, often to the distant past when architecture really was being invented for the first time. Architects depend on their own imaginations for personal insights and originality but their ideas may be stimulated (consciously or subliminally) by particularly powerful buildings from history.The Ten Most Influential Buildings in History identifies ten architectural archetypes that have been sources of inspiration for architects through the centuries. Each archetype is analysed through drawing, following the methodology established by the author in his previous books. The variety of 'lines of enquiry’ each archetype has provoked in latter-day architects are then explored by analysing relevant examples of their architecture to reveal ideas mined from the earlier buildings. In adopting this approach, the book is as pertinent to contemporary practice as it is to understanding buildings from antiquity, and offers insights into the bridges of influence that can operate between the two.

Simon Unwin has helped students learn to think as architects for over three decades. He is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Previously he taught architectural design and analysis at the Welsh School of Architecture in Cardiff University. He has lived in Great Britain and Australia, and taught or lectured on his work in China, Israel, India, Sweden, Turkey, Canada and the United States as well as at other schools in the UK and Europe.

Simon Unwin’s books are used in schools of architecture around the world. Analysing Architecture has been translated into Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Korean and is currently being translated into Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. He continues to teach at the Welsh School of Architecture in Cardiff.