ABSTRACT
Architectural theory describes and explains an individual architect’s or a school of architectural thought’s intentions-their goals and objectives, the design principles they use, and the designs that result. Architectural theory is thus fundamentally and openly ideological. The architectural literature abounds with monographs describing the work of individual architects. Certain giants of twentieth-century intellectual leadership in the profession stand out because they were highly articulate about their beliefs about what the concerns of architecture should be. Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Robert Venturi, and Coop Hemelb(l)au, among others have stirred opinions. A number of architects have emerged as leaders in the field in the early twenty-first century: Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, and Zaha Hadid among others. The results of their explorations have taught us much about how buildings function. So has the systematic research on the functioning of the built environment.
