ABSTRACT
Anne Tyng, Louis I. Kahn's colleague on a number of projects, liked to tie historical trends to mathematical constructs. In lectures she would occasionally describe a theory of interpreting history through geometric models. She postulated that art, architecture, music, and sculpture all follow similar patterns. We can see those patterns in the evolution of American architectural history. The American pioneer spirit of individualism is alive and well in the architectural world. Like our American inventions, the architecture of this country is constantly renewing itself and finding new ways to capture the imagination. The history of architecture is a chronicle of not only architecture, but of events, politics, economics, philosophy, indeed culture. Starting with a master builder, that carpenter in Annapolis, through to the present, the history of American architecture is a study in the undaunted American spirit of ingenuity and renewal.
