The authors of these eighteen essays have all been deeply influenced by the philosophy of architecture developed by Stanford Anderson, through his writings and through the teaching program of the Department of History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture, which he and Henry Millon founded at MIT over twenty years ago.

This "school" of architectural thought views architecture as a world of inquiry and as a discipline anchored in the epistemological bases of contemporary philosophy, especially the philosophy of science.

Whether historians or architects (and several have trained in both areas), the essayists all share the belief that contemporary concerns about architecture affect the way history is constructed. Because they view architecture as a body of knowledge evolving over time, they have resisted the wholesale espousal and rejection of modernism that has often polarized the examination and practice of architecture in the second half of this century.