Prof. Adrian Meyer was a professor of architecture and design at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) from 1994 to 2008. He is co-owner of the architecture firm Burkard, Meyer in Baden, Switzerland.

There are numerous reference works on the development of architecture in the twentieth century, but none of them presents the networklike connections and effects of those developments with the astonishing concision of Architecture in the 20th Century – A Synopsis. In an overview diagram, the various different movements, together with their associated major figures and structures, are visually situated in their historical and chronological context. World-historical events, technological developments, important books on architectural theory, and significant trends in twentieth-century art are presented in secondary sections to enable the user to better understand the relevant phenomena. An accompanying booklet provides information for further study, including a brief introduction to the origins of modernity and its movements as well as a series of architecture projects that, taken together, delineate an exemplary "influence history." Rounding out the product is a printed folder that holds the overview diagram and booklet.