Until his death at age 104, Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) was something of an unstoppable architectural force. Over seven decades of work, he designed approximately 600 buildings, transforming skylines from Bab-Ezzouar, Algeria, to his homeland masterpiece Brasília.

Niemeyer’s work took the reduced forms of modernism and infused them with free-flowing grace. In place of pared-down starkness, his structures rippled with sinuous and seductive lines. In buildings such as the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Edifício Copan, or the Metropolitan Cathedral in Brasília, he brought curvaceousness to the concrete jungle. In the futuristic federal capital of Brasília, he designed almost all public buildings, and thus became integral to the global image of Brazil.

With rich illustrations documenting highlights from his prolific career, this book introduces Niemeyer’s unique vision and its transformative influence on buildings of business, faith, culture, and the public imagination of Brazil.

About the series

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans)

From Berlin to Beirut, David Chipperfield (born 1953) aspires to an architecture founded on collaboration, ideas, and excellence. His buildings are intended as physically immediate spaces in which “a sort of ordinariness” becomes remarkable, and by which the individual structure coexists with broader concepts of city-building.

Chipperfield’s vision has driven major projects around the globe, from the famed rebuilding of the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, to the Amorepacific Headquarters in Seoul. His architec­tural practice has won many international competitions and numerous awards and citations for design excellence.

In vivid images and accessible texts, this book covers Chipperfield’s most striking projects to introduce the architect suspicious of “starchitecture,” but nevertheless a global star on the architecture stage.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

The Complete Zaha Hadid. The revolutionary architect’s life and work in an updated monograph

From Olympic venues to a world-class airport, this monograph gathers the complete works of the first female architect ever to win the Pritzker prize and one of the greatest architects of the 21st century: Zaha Hadid. Photographs, in-depth texts, and Hadid’s own drawings trace her integrated universe of building, furniture, and interior design, including the astonishing Port House in Antwerp.

Zaha Hadid was a revolutionary architect. For years, she was widely acclaimed and won numerous prizes despite building practically nothing. Some even said her work was simply impossible to build. Yet, during the latter years of her life, Hadid’s daring visions became a reality, bringing a new and unique architectural language to cities and structures such as the Port House in Antwerp, the Al Janoub Stadium near Doha, Qatar, and the spectacular new airport terminal in Beijing.

By her untimely death in 2016, Hadid was firmly established among architecture’s finest elite, working on projects in Europe, China, the Middle East, and the United States. She was the first female architect to win both the Pritzker Prize for architecture and the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal, with her long-time Partner Patrik Schumacher now the leader of Zaha Hadid Architects and in charge of many new projects.

Based on the massive TASCHEN monograph, this book is now available in an extensively updated and accessible edition covering Hadid’s complete works, including ongoing projects. With abundant photographs, in-depth sketches, and Hadid’s own drawings, the volume traces the evolution of her career, spanning not only her most pioneering buildings but also the furniture and interior designs that were integrated into her unique, and distinctly 21st-century, universe.

The author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

Perfection in Simplicity. Tadao Ando’s complete works from 1975 until today

This fresh overview of Tadao Ando’s oeuvre spans the breadth of his career, from his beginnings in 1975 to today. Based on the massive XXL edition, this accessible volume sheds light on the Modernist master through photographs and architectural drawings, and includes such new projects as the Shanghai Poly Theater and the Clark Center at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Discover the completely unique aesthetic of Tadao Ando, the only architect ever to have won the discipline’s four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize.

Philippe Starck defines him as a “mystic in a country which is no longer mystic.” Philip Drew calls his buildings “land art” as they “struggle to emerge from the earth.” His designs have been described as haiku crafted from concrete, water, light, and space. But to Ando, true architecture is not expressed in metaphysics or beauty, but rather through space that embodies physical wisdom.

This thoroughly updated edition spans the breadth of his entire career, including such stunning new projects as the Shanghai Poly Theater and the Clark Center at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Each project is profiled through photographs and architectural drawings to explore Ando’s unprecedented use of concrete, wood, water, light, space, and natural forms. Based on the massive XXL monograph, this edition brings the architect’s definitive career overview to an accessible format.

The artist

Tadao Ando (born in 1941) is one of the world’s most renowned contemporary architects. At first a boxer, he decided to pursue architecture two years after graduating from high school. He is the only one to have won the discipline’s four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize. Ando currently works from his native Osaka.

The author

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

There’s No Place Like Home. Step into the world’s most beautiful private abodes

Discover the world’s finest crop of new homes. This dependable global digest features such talents as Shigeru Ban, MVRDV, and Marcio Kogan alongside up-and-comers like Xu Fu-Min, Vo Trong Nghia, Desai Chia, and Shunri Nishizawa. Organized by architect and brimming with crisp photography and plans, the result is a sweeping survey of the contemporary house.

Across small cottages and lavish villas, beach houses and forest refuges, discover the world’s finest crop of new homes. This cutting-edge global digest features such talents as Shigeru Ban, MVRDV, and Marcio Kogan alongside up-and-coming names like Aires Mateus, Xu Fu-Min, Vo Trong Nghia, Desai Chia, and Shunri Nishizawa.

Here, there are homes in Australia and New Zealand, from China and Vietnam, in the United States and Mexico, and on to less expected places like Ecuador and Costa Rica. The result is a sweeping survey of the contemporary house and a revelation that homes across the globe may have more in common than expected.

Among guava trees and abandoned forts in Western India is a sanctuary designed for and by Kamal Malik of Malik Architecture. The House of Three Streams is a sprawling spectacle with high ceilings, verandas, and pavilions, perched atop a ridge overlooking two ravines. A medley of steel, glass, wood, and stone, the house weaves along the contour of the landscape, almost as an extension of the forest.

Encina House by Aranguren & Gallegos, an elegant, sloping structure reminiscent of a gazebo, similarly inhabits its surrounding vista. Ensconced in a pine forest north of Madrid, the lower level is embedded in rock and connected to the upper by a natural stone wall.

Shinichi Ogawa’s Seaside House is an immaculate two-story minimalist marvel in Kanagawa that overlooks the Pacific. Its living area spills onto a cantilevered terrace and infinity pool, almost dissolving into the ocean as one seamless entity.

In Vietnam, Shunri Nishizawa’s House in Chau Doc exudes tropical sophistication with exposed timber beams, woven bamboo, plants, concrete panels, and inner balconies and terraces. Its corrugated iron panels act as moveable walls and shutters, ushering in views of surrounding rice fields.

These homes — along with more than 50 others — are each remarkably distinct in design. They all, however, toe the line between inside and outside, each one symbiotic with its surroundings.

About the Author

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

Ever since his self-proclamation as part of the "New York Five," Richard Meier has risen through one top commission after another to the dizzy heights of architectural stardom. 

From Madison Square Garden to Shenzhen, China, his sleek, luminously white modernism has created some of the most high-profile and distinctive buildings of the 20th and 21st centuries. Meier's portfolio is as varied as it is illustrious. He has worked with Roman treasures (Ara Pacis Museum), seaside resorts (Jesolo Lido Village), civic centers (San Jose City Hall), and private clients in the Hamptons. On each project, Meier's hallmarks are careful grid plans and expansive use of white surfacing and glass. The buildings are as much beacons of brilliance from the exterior as they are temples to clarity and purpose inside. 

This introductory book traces Meier's complete career to explore the making of a cult architect. With abundant images, we take in all his most famous projects, such as the Getty Center in Los Angeles, as well as his most recent works such as the OCT Shenzhen Clubhouse in Shenzhen, China; and the Burda Collection Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

The Masterful Forms of Santiago Calatrava. Balance meets movement in this revised and updated edition

This updated monograph includes all of Calatrava’s original collaborative input as well as his latest projects. From the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Manhattan to the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, discover Calatrava’s organic forms through detailed entries, photography, and the original watercolor sketches that set him aside as a unique creative master.

Santiago Calatrava is a world-renowned architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and artist. From the Athens 2004 Olympic Sports Complex to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Manhattan, he exhibits a remarkable aesthetic and engineering prowess with a simultaneous sensitivity for both the appearance and the anatomy of a structure.

With influences ranging from NASA space design to da Vinci’s nature studies, Calatrava’s creations are at once aerodynamic and organic in their associations. Natural forms and human movements inform a number of his projects, with a particular interest in the meeting point of equilibrium and dynamism.

This updated monograph gathers detailed entries, photography, and the original watercolor sketches that set Calatrava aside as a unique creative master. It includes all of Calatrava’s original collaborative input, as well as new projects including the Mediopadana Station in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, and ongoing works like the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai.

The artist:

Santiago Calatrava (born in 1951) studied art and architecture at the ETSA of Valencia and engineering at the ETH in Zürich. His best-known works include the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Opera House in his native Valencia, and the Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden. Calatrava has received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2005 Gold Medal. He is based in New York and Zürich.

The author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid
 

Concrete Heights. The most exciting projects behind the contemporary concrete trend

Once synonymous with eyesore highway bridges and crumbling, unloved walls, concrete has been reborn as adventurous and sexy. This Bibliotheca Universalis edition considers the elaborate feats and prodigious engineering of contemporary concrete architecture, from stars such as Tadao Ando and Herzog & de Meuron, to fresh new studios like the Russian SPEECH.

Concrete? That characterless stuff of parking lots or Communist tower blocks, right? Well, yes. And no. Concrete is actually a name applied to a remarkably wide range of building substances, and, when properly handled, is one of the noble materials of contemporary architecture. A kind of “liquid stone” at the outset, it is malleable, durable, and capable of prodigious feats of engineering.

This Bibliotheca Universalis edition highlights the best work done in concrete of recent years. It includes such stars as Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, and Steven Holl, but also surprising new architects like the Russians SPEECH and artists such as James Turrell, who turned the famous concrete spiral of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim in New York into the setting of one of his most remarkable pieces.

About the Author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Timberland. The wooden structures of the 21st century

Travel the world to investigate one of the greatest renaissances in architecture: wood. How has this elemental material come to steal the show at luxury hot spring structures and cutting-edge urban renewal schemes? With 100 projects from China, Chile, and everywhere in between, this global survey explores the technical, environmental, and sensory elements that have inspired a return to timber.

Not so very long ago, some might have considered wood a material of the past, long since replaced by more modern components such as concrete and steel. The truth is radically different. Bolstered by new manufacturing techniques and ecological benefits, wood has seen a fabulous resurgence in contemporary construction.

This Bibliotheca Universalis edition explores how architects around the world have created and invented with this elementary material. Featuring follies, very large buildings, and ambitious urban renewal schemes, it celebrates the diverse deployment of wood by architects around the world. We see how wood can at once transform urban spaces, as in the Metropol Parasol in Seville by Jürgen Mayer H., and allow for sensitive interventions in natural environments, such as at the Termas Geométricas Hot Springs Complex in Pucón, Chile, by Germán del Sol.

True to all TASCHEN architecture titles, the book pays tribute to many emerging international talents as well as to such renowned figures as Tadao Ando and Renzo Piano. It celebrates each architect’s vision and innovation, as well as investigating the techniques, trends, and principles that have informed their work with wood. It examines the computer-guided milling that has allowed for novel new forms, the responsible harvesting that allows wood to align with our environmental concerns, and, above all, wood’s enduring appeal to our senses and psyche, comforting hectic modern lives with a sense of Arcadian simplicity.

About the author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Master innovator: Challenging accepted notions of architecture

From emergency relief shelters to a cardboard cathedral and exhibition spaces in shipping containers, Pritzker-prize winning architect Shigeru Ban has made his name with his restlessly inventive response to material and situation, as much as with his humanitarian work at the sites of natural and man-made disasters.

In the spirit of three-dimensional poetry, Ban uses materials as an incorporated part of his design, selected not for their cutting-edge credentials but rather for their expressive ability, their capacity to convey the building’s overall concept. In particular, Ban has made regular use of paper tubing in projects as varied as the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 and emergency shelters for Rwanda’s Byumba Refugee Camp.

This essential introduction, compiled with Ban’s own collaboration, presents every one of his projects to date to survey the full reach and importance of, in the words of the Pritzker Prize jury, a “committed teacher who is not only a role model for a younger generation but also an inspiration.”

About the series: 

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:
- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

About the Author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

Where the Grass Really Is Greener. Eco-friendly building in the world today

Sprouting with fresh ideas and sunny outlooks, this compact edition brings together the best examples of contemporary green buildings today. Well-known architects like Frank Gehry and Norman Foster sit alongside young, up-and-coming creators. Each entry introduces a key project through plans, photos, and a close reading of the sustainable and ecological nature of the design.

The most exciting new buildings today are almost all environmentally aware, sustainable, and conceived to consume less energy than ever before. Discover the best examples of green projects from the Architecture Now! series in this handy Bibliotheca Universalis edition.

Celebrated architects like Frank Gehry and Norman Foster are presented alongside young up-and-coming creators from all over the world. Filled with plans, renderings of proposed projects, and stunning architectural photography, this is nothing short of an encyclopedia of eco-design.

From a water treatment facility to an art museum, luxurious holiday homes to commercial structures, these buildings all make a bold environmental statement. Being “green” means being aware of the responsibility in the construction and use of modern buildings; some solutions are as old as the history of architecture, while others are born of cutting-edge technologies. Explore these approaches and many more in this groundbreaking collection showcasing 100 of the world’s most innovative eco-friendly buildings.

About the author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Oscar Niemeyer, and Zaha Hadid.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Saving Space. Big ideas for small buildings

Over the years, talented architects have occasionally indulged themselves with the challenge of designing small but perfectly formed buildings. Today, with reduced budgets, many architects have turned in a more focused way to creating works that may be diminutive in their dimensions, but are definitely big when it comes to trendsetting ideas. Whether in Japanese cities, where large sites are hard to come by, or at the frontier between art and architecture, small buildings present many advantages and push their designers to do more with less.

A dollhouse for Calvin Klein in New York, a playhouse for children in Trondheim, vacation cabins, and housing for victims of natural disasters are all part of the new rush to develop the great small architecture of the moment. The 2013 Pritzker Prize winner Toyo Ito is here, but so are emergent architects from Portugal, Chile, England, and New Zealand. From world-famous names to the freshest new talent, come discover architectural invention on a whole new, small scale.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Life in the woods. Creative cabin architecture

Ever since Henry David Thoreau’s described his two years, two months, and two days of cabin existence at Walden Pond, Massachusetts in Walden, or, Life in the Woods (1854), the idea of a refuge dwelling has seduced the modern psyche. In the past decade, as our material existence and environmental footprint has grown exponentially, architects around the globe have become particularly interested in the possibilities of the minimal, low-impact, and isolated abode.

This new TASCHEN title, combining insightful text, rich photography and bright, contemporary illustrations by Marie-Laure Cruschi, explores how this particular architectural type presents special opportunities for creative thinking. In eschewing excess, the cabin limits actual spatial intrusion to the bare essentials of living requirements, while in responding to its typically rustic setting, it foregrounds eco-friendly solutions. As such, the cabin comes to showcase some of the most inventive and forward-looking practice of contemporary architecture, with Renzo Piano, Terunobu Fujimori, Tom Kundig and many fresh young professionals all embracing such distilled sanctuary spaces.

The cabins selected for this publication emphasize the variety of the genre, both in terms of usage and geography. From an artist studio on the Suffolk coast in England to eco-home huts in the Western Ghats region of India, this survey is as exciting in its international reach as it is in its array of briefs, clients, and situations. Constant throughout, however, is architectural innovation, and an inspiring sense of contemplation and coexistence as people return to nature and to a less destructive model of being in the world.

Innovations at home. Exceptional contemporary houses from Chile to Croatia to China

Designing private homes offers architects more freedom than corporate projects to express their ideas and try out new concepts. Conceiving living spaces is not without its own set of challenges, for which architects are forever looking for innovative solutions - rethinking the way we inhabit our home and live our daily lives is all part of the job when designing a house. Nowadays environmental concerns have become crucial in building sustainable structures, changing the playing field quite profoundly. This two-volume publication rounds up 100 of the world’s most interesting and pioneering homes from the past decade, featuring a host of talents both new and established, including John Pawson, Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Herzog and de Meuron, Daniel Libeskind, Alvaro Siza, UN Studio, and Peter Zumthor.

About the Author:

Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His books include TASCHEN’s Architecture Now! series, and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, and Zaha Hadid. He is internationally renowned as one of the most popular writers on the subject of architecture.

About the series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Timberland. The wooden structures of the 21st century

Not so very long ago, some might have considered wood a material of the past, long since replaced by more modern components such as concrete and steel. The truth is radically different. Bolstered by new manufacturing techniques and ecological benefits, wood has seen a fabulous resurgence in contemporary construction.

This double-volume survey explores how architects around the world have created and invented with this elementary material. Featuring follies, very large buildings, and ambitious urban renewal schemes, it celebrates the diverse deployment of wood from architects in China, Chile, and everywhere in between. We see how wood can at once transform urban spaces, as in the Metropol Parasol in Seville by Jürgen Mayer H., and allow for sensitive interventions in natural environments, as at the Finnish Forest Research Institute by SARC Architects, or the Termas Geométricas Hot Springs Complex by Germán del Sol.

True to all TASCHEN architecture tomes, the book pays tribute to many emerging international talents, as well as to such renowned figures as Tadao Ando to Renzo Piano. It celebrates each of these architect’s vision and innovation, as well as investigating the techniques, trends, and principles that have informed their work with wood. It examines the computer-guided milling that has allowed for novel new forms, the responsible harvesting that allows wood to align with our environmental concerns, and, above all, wood’s enduring appeal to our senses and our psyche, comforting hectic modern lives with a sense of arcadian beauty and simplicity.

The author

Philip Jodidio (born 1954) studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His books include TASCHEN’s Architecture Now! series, and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, and Zaha Hadid. He is internationally renowned as one of the most popular writers on the subject of architecture.