This book explores 72 buildings from around the world and throughout history and enables readers to experience the projects through text, photos and drawings; the perfect introduction to reading architectural plans. Intended both as an introductory text for students and professionals in the field as well as an accessible read for the general public, Understanding Architecture addresses the basic principles of architecture. The volume is organized in 12 series of chapters based on a key architectural themes - including space, time, matter, gravity, light, silence, dwelling, ritual, memory, landscape, and place. Each chapter begins with an introductory essay, and includes a wide variety of historical examples from around the world, followed by in-depth analysis of 6 key buildings that further exemplify the theme of that chapter. By combining a broad historical sweep with a jargon-free architectural study of space and the direct experience of architecture, this volume is a unique introduction to the experience of architecture

• Introduction: Architecture as Experience
• Space - Existential and architectural space
• The Pantheon, Rome, Italy
• Piazza del Campo, Sienna, Italy
• Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy, Filippo Brunelleschi
• Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois, US, Frank Lloyd Wright
• Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, Ronchamp, France, Le Corbusier
• Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, California, US, Rafael Moneo
• Time - The Space of Time
• Theater at Epidaurus, Greece
• Palace, Fatehpur Sikri, India
• Soane House, London, UK, Sir John Soane
• Castelvecchio Museum, Verona, Italy, Carlo Scarpa
• Myyrmaki Church, Vantaa, Finland, Juha Leiviska
• Church on the Water, Hokkaido, Japan, Tadao Ando
• Matter - Matter, Hapticity and Time
• Temples of Amon-Ra and Khonsu, Karnak, Egypt
• Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice, Italy, Pietro Lombardo
• Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, Austria, Otto Wagner
• Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
• Law Courts Extension, Gothenburg, Sweden, Erik Gunnar Asplund
• Sant Petri Church, Klippan, Sweden, Sigurd Lewerentz

• Gravity - Force, Form and Structure
• Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy
• Church of Saint Front, Perigueux, France
• Maison de Verre, Paris, France, Pierre Chareau
• Exeter Library, Exeter, New Hampshire, USA, Louis Kahn
• The Menil Collection Exhibition Building, Houston, Texas, USA, Renzo Piano
• Thermal Baths, Vals, Switzerland, Peter Zumthor
• Light - Material Tactility of Light
• Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus
• Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France
• San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane, Rome, Italy, Francesco Borromini
• Benedictine Abbey Church, Neresheim, Germany, Balthasar Neumann
• Church of the Three Crosses, Imatra, Finland, Alvar Aalto
• Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, Louis Kahn
• Silence - The Silent Voice of Architecture
• The Pyramids, Giza, Egypt
• Temples at Paestum, Italy
• Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico
• Cloister, Santa Maria della Pace, Rome, Italy, Donato Bramante
• Chapel and Convent of the Capuchinas, Mexico City, Mexico, Luis Barragan
• Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, USA, Louis Kahn

• Dwelling - Architecture, Dwelling and Home
• Dogon Village, Bandiagara, Mali, West Africa
• Roman Atrium House, Pompei, Italy
• Villa Rotonda, Vicenza, Italy, Andrea Palladio
• Darwin Martin House, Buffalo, New York, USA, Frank Lloyd Wright
• Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, Alvar Aalto
• Simpson-Lee House, Mount Wilson, NSW, Australia, Glenn Murcutt
• Room - The Rooms of Memory
• Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, Michelangelo
• Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France, Henri Labrouste
• American Bar, Vienna, Austria, Adolf Loos
• Schroeder House, Utrecht, The Netherlands, Gerrit Reitveld
• Johnson Wax Company Building, Racine, Wisconsin, USA, Frank Lloyd Wright
• Chapel of Sant Ignatius, Seattle, Washington, USA, Steven Holl
• Ritual - The Form of Ritual Trajan's
• Market of Trajan, Rome, Italy, Apollodoros
• Ise Shrine, Nagoya, Japan
• Certosa di Firenze, Florence, Italy
• Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, Antonio Gaudi
• Grand Central Terminal, New York, USA, Warren and Wetmore
• Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, Le Corbusier

• Memory - Memory and the Lifeworld
• Palace at Knossos, Crete, Greec
• The Alhambra, Granada, Spain
• Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italy, Guarino Guarini
• Resurrection Chapel, Municipal Cemetery, Turku, Finland, Erik Bryggman
• Brion Cemetery, San Vito d’Altivole, Italy, Carlo Scarpa
• American Folk Art Museum, New York City, USa, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien
• Landscape - The Internalized Landscape
• Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy
• Katsura Villa, Kyoto, Japan
• The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, Thomas Jefferson
• Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm, Sweden, Erik.Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz
• Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania, USA, Frank Lloyd Wright
• Swimming Pools on the Sea, Leca da Palmeira, Portugal, Alvaro Siza
• Place - The Power of Place
• The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, Ictinos and Callicrates; landscape, Dimitris Pikionis
• Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy, Michelangelo
• Saynatsalo Town Hall, Saynatsalo, Jyvaskyla, Finland, Alvar Aalto
• Municipal Orphanage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Aldo van Eyck
• Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, Jorn Utzon
• Renovations and Additions to Monte Carasso, Switzerland, Luigi Snozzi