The sketch is a window into the architects mind. As creative designers, architects are interested in how other architects, particularly successful ones, think through the use of drawings to approach their work. Historically designers have sought inspiration for their own work through an insight into the minds and workings of people they often regard as geniuses. This collection of sketches aims to provide this insight. Here for the first time, a wide range of world famous architects' sketches from the Renaissance to the present day can be seen in a single volume. The sketches have been selected to represent the concepts or philosophies of the key movements in architecture in order to develop an overall picture of the role of the sketch in the development of architecture. The book illustrates the work of designers as diverse as Andrea Palladio, Erich Mendelsohn, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Le Corbusier, Michelangelo, Alvar Aalto, Sir John Soane, Francesco Borromini, Walter Gropius, and contemporary architects Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry to name but a few. Each chronologically placed sketch is accompanied by text providing details about the architect’s life, a look at the sketch in context, and the connection to specific buildings where appropriate. Style, media and meaning are also discussed, developing an explanation of the architect’s thinking and intentions.

As creative designers themselves, architects are interested in how other architects, particularly successful ones, think and draw and approach their work. Historically designers have sought inspiration for their own work through an insight into the minds and workings of people they often regard as geniuses. This collection of sketches aims to provide this insight.

Listed chronologically each sketch will be accompanied by a text which provides: A short synopsis/history of the architect's life; a look at the sketch in this context; the connection to a specific building (where appropriate); techniques of the sketch: style and media; meaning - what the sketch shows about the architect's thinking and intentions followed by a select bibliography for each section.