The course is concerned with the writings of architectural theorists from antiquity to the present. Significant authors include Vitruvius, Alberti, Palladio, Perrault, Laugier, Boullee, Hugo and Labrouste, Viollet-le-Duc, Fergusson, Pugin, Ruskin, Semper, Loos, van Doesburg, Le Corbusier, Kahn, Venturi, Frampton and Rykwert. Interpretations of key texts highlight topics that are relevant to modern theory and practice, including: the human analogy; the relationship of structure to ornament; the decorative surface of a building; as well as the meaning of materials, light and space. The course will set out a theoretical foundation for architecture that is capable of responding to contemporary problems.