Sir Denys Lasdun is one of the elder statesmen of British architecture. His work over the past 50 years has been pioneering, provocative and influential. In this volume, William Curtis offers a critical assessment of Lasdun's ideas and achievements, tracing the evolution of his architectural language and his continuing preoccupation with tradition and the central themes of "strata" and urban landscape. Entering the mainstream of modern architecture when the formative visions of modernism were still fresh and exciting, Lasdun has held true to his modernist convictions in a succession of notable buildings which include the Royal College of Physicians in Regent's Park, the University of East Anglia, the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg and the National Theatre. With detailed analyses and illustrations from Lasdun's own archive, the author presents a challenge to the critics of modernism.