ARKIRA Atlas · Office research
Every proposition in architectural theory must in the end point to areal buildingstanding on the ground — so we collected all of them and pinned them to a single map
While reading 25 works of architectural theory, from Ten Books by Vitruvius two thousand years ago through to the conversations of Rem Koolhaas and Frei Otto in the last century, we noted every time an author raised a building as “evidence” for their own argument
Each one is recorded in full: real coordinates, year, architect, materials, structural system, present condition and the volume that cites it. The result is a database of 202 buildings that can be read three ways — on a world map, on a timeline, and in a comparison table
A principle that cannot say where it was actually built is only taste — the same discipline we apply to a BOQ, where every line has to say where its number came from
Every building records its materials and structural system, not only its form — post-and-beam, arch, load-bearing wall, precast concrete. That is what decides whether a building actually stands
In this database 158 still stand · 23 were demolished or destroyed · 4 were never built. That ratio says more about durability than any advertisement
A single ramp from old to new — the brighter, the closer to the present. Four bands sized so each holds a similar number of buildings
A second channel, readable with colour blindness or in black and white · click a symbol to filter
The map answers “where did this theory happen”, the timeline answers “when”, and the table lets you compare materials, structure or architect row by row
Click an architect with several works and you see at once where one person's buildings are spread · press / to search
Alongside this page — the map of architectural theory : 213 notes on the books, the people and the ideas behind these buildings (in Thai) →
| Standing | 158 buildings |
| Demolished / destroyed | 23 buildings |
| Ruin | 6 buildings |
| Altered / extended | 6 buildings |
| Never built (paper projects) | 4 buildings |
| Condition not recorded | 5 buildings |
Coordinates and basic facts come from public sources, mainly Wikipedia and Mapcarta. Each building carries a confidence level for its coordinates — high 156 · medium 30 · low 13 · unverified 3
The starting index held 204 entries · 202 are kept on this map · 200 have real coordinates (the other two, Dom-ino and the Cenotaph for Newton, were never built and so have no location) · the year given is the year work began, and several of these buildings span centuries
This is research for learning, not a peer-reviewed academic document verified in the field. If you find an error we would be grateful if you told us
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