Understanding architecture in person

Studying architecture: history, styles, materials and travel

For those who study architecture and those who design it: 205 articles, three sections, one continuous publication.

Architetturando is a magazine for people who study architecture, at university or out of passion. The history of architecture is told period by period, from Antiquity to the present, through the buildings and the architects who changed it: Brunelleschi and the dome of Florence, Bernini and Borromini, Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando. Every article starts from a concrete problem — political, technical, economic — and shows how architectural styles grew out of those answers rather than from a catalogue of forms. Alongside history, a section on building materials explains how stone, concrete, timber, steel and glass really behave, and a Travel section takes all of this into the city, building by building.

By period

History of architecture

All periods →

Seven sections, from Antiquity to the present, with the same structure as university courses in architectural history: 126 articles, each devoted to a building, an architect or an idea.

3rd mill. BC – 5th c. AD
15 articles

Classical Antiquity

Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome. Architectural orders, arch, dome, concrete. The foundations of the built West.

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5th – 14th c.
10 articles

Middle Ages and Gothic

Romanesque and Gothic: two opposite ways of using stone. Cathedrals as machines for turning light into theology.

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14th – 16th c.
14 articles

Renaissance

From Brunelleschi to Palladio: two centuries in which architecture becomes a science. Proportion as a universal language.

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17th – 18th c.
12 articles

Baroque

Bernini versus Borromini: same Rome, two universes. Baroque space as political theatre and staging of faith.

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19th c. – 1960
33 articles

Modernism

From iron architecture to Le Corbusier, Mies, Wright, Aalto and Gropius: the century that redrew every rule.

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1960 – today
30 articles

Contemporary

Piano, Zaha Hadid, Ando, Gehry, Koolhaas, Zumthor: the protagonists of today's architecture, with the Pritzker as a compass.

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Cross-period · 1st c. BC – today
12 articles

Theory and Urban Planning

From Vitruvius to Situationism: the thinking that built our cities. Ideas before bricks.

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By language

Architectural styles and movements

Guide to styles →

From classical architecture to Deconstructivism: what sets each style apart, how to recognise it in front of a building, and which articles to read to go deeper.

Classical architecture Roman architecture Byzantine and Islamic Romanesque Gothic Renaissance Mannerism Baroque Neoclassicism Art Nouveau Modern Movement Organic architecture Brutalism Postmodernism High-Tech Deconstructivism Contemporary
Key figures

Architects to know

All architects →

From Brunelleschi to Zaha Hadid, the famous architects you meet in every architectural history exam — each with an article devoted to their buildings and ideas.

Filippo Brunelleschi 1377–1446 Michelangelo 1475–1564 Andrea Palladio 1508–1580 Bernini and Borromini 17th c. Antoni Gaudí 1852–1926 Frank Lloyd Wright 1867–1959 Walter Gropius 1883–1969 Mies van der Rohe 1886–1969 Le Corbusier 1887–1965 Alvar Aalto 1898–1976 Louis Kahn 1901–1974 Carlo Scarpa 1906–1978 Aldo Rossi 1931–1997 Renzo Piano b. 1937 Tadao Ando b. 1941 Peter Zumthor b. 1943 Zaha Hadid 1950–2016
Technique

Building materials

All materials →

Eleven families of building materials, each with a guide to its variants and 69 in-depth articles on history, technique, pathologies and the circular economy — with links to the architects who turned them into a language.

6 articles Concrete From the Pantheon to UHPC: variants, pathologies and the long history of reinforced concrete. 6 articles Stone and marble Quarrying, cutting, restoration and contemporary stone detailing. 6 articles Brick Bricks, fair-faced masonry, terracotta and ventilated façades. 6 articles Wood From solid timber to CLT and timber skyscrapers. 7 articles Steel From the Crystal Palace's iron to High-Tech: frames, connections, recycling. 8 articles Glass From Gothic stained glass to the curtain wall and structural glass. 6 articles Copper and metals Copper, zinc-titanium, aluminium: roofs, envelopes and patinas. 6 articles Lime and plasters Air and hydraulic lime, marmorino, restoring historic walls. 6 articles Raw earth Adobe, rammed earth, seismic design and building traditions worldwide. 6 articles Bamboo Structural bamboo: performance, standards and building traditions. 6 articles Innovative materials Mycelium, self-healing concrete, biomimicry.
In the field

Architectural travel

All travel guides →

10 city itineraries to read before you leave: which buildings to see, in what order, and what to look at once you get there. The interactive map (Italian interface) lets you build your own route.

Italy Rome Three layers of time Italy Venice Architecture on water Europe Paris Le Corbusier and the modern city Europe Barcelona Gaudí as a key to reading the city Europe Berlin The city that rewrites itself Europe Porto Álvaro Siza and Atlantic stone Europe Istanbul Where East and West are built Americas Chicago The birth of the skyscraper Asia Tokyo Where tradition and the future ignore each other Asia Kyoto Emptiness as design
Shortcuts

Explore by topic

Guide to styles →
Antiquity15 Architectural orders Middle Ages10 Romanesque Gothic Renaissance14 Baroque12 Neoclassicism Art Nouveau Modernism33 Brutalism Postmodernism Deconstructivism Contemporary30 Theory and urban planning12 Sustainability Le Corbusier Palladio Gaudí Concrete6 Stone and marble6 Wood6 Steel7 Rome Paris