Architecture shapes people, and people shape architecture. This illustrated volume delves into the personalities and thoughts of those who designed the buildings that give form to our times. Ingrid von Kruse’s very personal portrait photography is complemented by statements in which renowned present-day architects throw light upon what architecture means to them personally. A selection of sketches, drawings and models rounds off the examination of their artistic ideas and their thinking. Within the context of this broad, composite view, the architects as they see themselves and the ideals that lie behind their ideas attain clear contours.

Portraits of Tadao Ando, Gottfried Böhm, Mario Botta, Santiago Calatrava, David Chipperfield, Peter Eisenman, Norman Foster, Frank O. Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Bjarke Ingels, Helmut Jahn, Rem Koolhaas, Phyllis Lambert, Daniel Libeskind, Richard Meier, Rafael Moneo, Oscar Niemeyer, Ieoh Ming Pei, Dominique Perrault, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, SANAA, Álvaro Siza, Robert Venturi/Denise Scott Brown, Peter Zumthor