Aldo Rossi developed one of the most influential bodies of thought in European architecture during the second half of the twentieth century, bringing together the city, memory, typology, drawing and everyday objects. With The Architecture of the City, published in 1966, he challenged the idea that urban form could be explained through function alone; at …

Carlo Scarpa (Venice, 1906 – Sendai, 1978) established a unique position within twentieth-century Italian architecture through his command of detail, profound understanding of materials and distinctive approach to working with existing buildings. In his museums, shops, gardens and funerary architecture, design often emerges from the point of contact between different elements: stone and metal, plaster …

Some buildings are recognisable even before we know who designed them. In the case of Santiago Calatrava, a few elements are often enough: a sequence of white ribs, a taut arch, a roof that seems to unfold like a wing, a structure capable of suggesting movement even when completely still. This immediate visual identity, combined …