Aldo van Eyck, Doyen of Dutch architecture, is one of the most significant architects of the 20th century. His way of looking at buildings, his visual thinking, his way of perceiving and structuring time and space, events and social coexistence had a strong influence on his contemporaries during the 1950s and 1960s.The book is based on van Eyck's substantial archive of original texts, plans and photographs, documenting all presented buildings in depth. Texts by Vincent Ligtelijn, Joseph Rykwert, Peter Smithson, Hermann Hertzberger, Henk Engel, and Francis Strauven complete the volume.Aldo van Eyck, the "Grand Seigneur" of Dutch architecture is one of the most significant architects of this century. He exerted a strong influence on his contemporaries during the fifties and sixties, and this can be seen in mnay of their buildings both in the Netherlands and worldwide. It was not merely his way of looking at buildings which was influential but also his perception of architecture; his visual thinking, his way of perceiving and structuring time and space, events and social coexistence. The architectonic treatises he wrote are still relevant and useful today. The present publication has been produced on the occasion of Aldo van Eyck's 80th birthday in 1998. The architect has opened his substantial archive and has provided unpublished original texts, plans and photographs. All buildings from 1944 to the present day are documented in depth and an essay by Alexander Tzonis and Diane Lefaivre makes the historical and cultural background to his work accessible, explaining clearly and lucidly the ideas, the design principles which underlie the conception of his buildings. Further texts by Pierre Boulez, Herman Hertzberger, Rejma Pietila and Joseph Rykwert conclude the book.