The contents of this collection (publication and lectures) are intended to form a brief introduction to the principal cultures of Asia and their buildings. That inevitably involves a great deal of generalization, a lot of simplification — and the reader will have to accept that. But in doing so we are trying to make the subject approachable and intelligible. And to show something of the extraordinary sweep of architecture over one continent in a period of over four and five thousand years. This book will trace the domestic architecture of many regions of Asia and in each area will attempt to show how that relates to the development of the religious buildings of each culture. Overall it examines the question of the genesis of architecture and urbanism as conscious responses to the environment to social conditions and to beliefs and ideologies.

As a sub-text, it examines the genesis of the architecture and urbanism as conscious responses to the environment, social conditions and/or beliefs and ideologies, and considers the degree to which individual creativity might have been a factor in the architecture and urbanism of Asia.