Introduction

This chapter presents the traditional works of theory intended to propagate ways of doing architecture to reflective statements by current practitioners, and for convenience in chronological order. The greatest retrospective apologist for medieval architecture was Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-duc, whose ten-volume Dictionnaire Raisonne; with its wonderful engravings, though pragmatic and rational in tone, is still an essential gateway into that world. The beginning of architecture as an academic subject, with attendant detailed theory, belongs to France and the eighteenth century, moving from Academie Royale to Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Ecole Polytechnique. It was Frank Lloyd Wright who brought into modern architecture the 'breaking of the box', drawing on his experiences of Japan and the shifting, overlapping spaces of traditional East Asian architecture. He stressed, throughout his career, the great importance of adapting a building to its site and defining the approach, but it is surprising how little mention there is in his writings of actual experience of movement within buildings.