However, all approaches need to balance between the anecdotal and the analytical. Anecdotal, as single projects and buildings must be covered. Analytical, as the mere choice and ordering of projects and buildings implies certain project-transcending reflections.

Usually this balance is found in an introductory or concluding chapter which outlines the background of the works in more general terms (elaborating on cultural, historical, political, technical, and architectural factors), and a summary of the projects and buildings, giving detailed information on each piece of architecture by itself.

Another way of doing this is possible when a few major themes can be singled out. These themes can then form the thread along which the buildings can be reviewed. In this way, an argumentation, supported by examples, can explain and elucidate the projects.

Even more profound than these two means of enquiry can be the development of a theory which explains not only the projects mentioned in the survey, but which is also capable of putting much else that is not shown in perspective. In this way, the reviewed material plays more or less the role of evidence.

Apart from the book form, new ways of dealing with this matter can be thought of and developed. This will be mentioned again later, as the book in question will induce a discussion on it.

"Architecture in Europe" covers a 24-year period of architecture. Although it concentrates exclusively on Europe, this is not the case where the architects are concerned. The authors aim to avoid a discussion on "European" architecture. They explicitly set out to outline with the chosen projects "a framework for locating, describing and interpreting architecture, rather than offering an exhaustive historical account." Indeed, the choice of projects does not easily enable this kind of comparison; their content, scale, and goals vary too much in order to do so.

This "filter" though, may have caused the chosen projects to provide a catalogue of an architecture which transcends the European platform. This is explainable through the fact that a building can relate to its surroundings on a regional level and on a micro-level. When firmly rooted on a regional level, it usually is called "vernacular" (whether critical or not) architecture. But it is also possible to respond to the immediate surroundings without becoming vernacular or regional; for example, when offering a very specific urban solution, recognizing special sites, or exploiting surprising views, etc. Most projects (Tzonis and Lefaivre include some specifically under the label "Critical Regionalism") presented here only profile themselves on the microlevel and lose touch on a regional level. But as remarked, this is both the intention of the authors (in their choice) as of the architects and clients who "worked" on the projects (no use inviting a famed architect who suddenly abandons his/her style and goes incognito).

Nonetheless, it leads to the impression that most projects are exchangeable. They might even be considered the "International Style" of modern western architecture. Probably the term "style" is not quite correct in this context, but "attitude", although it also covers part of the symptoms, is not adequate either.

Architectural theory, next to being concerned with architecture, obviously, usually also comments on (if not, influences) society. This is necessarily so as architecture is an expression of society. Today is not different, but the accents have shifted. Technological advances in general, and telecommunication and automation specifically, cause major changes in society. Both society and architecture are trying to find a proper response to these changes. Although the more exotic architectural theories and experiments indicate wild and fantastic vistas, a less spectacular and longer ongoing process has already influenced architecture. It is intimately connected to our daily lives and can simply be identified as the Global Village, albeit without the original connotations of McLuhan.

The global information village did not cause the world to shrink. In fact, it expanded beyond the capacity of any individual; not only was there an increase of relevant information from all over the world, but there also was an explosive increase of irrelevant information from all over the world. Next to other effects, this caused the scope of any profession to widen to a global scale. For architecture, it meant that a new kind of "discourse" was established which transcended usual borders and which now can also be called global. This particularly affects western architecture, and therefore the samples as surveyed in this book.

Most projects adhere to this "internationalism" which is stimulated through this process. However, this does not indicate the presence of one singular coherent identifiable style, not in general, nor in the selected projects. They all exemplify a position in this matter though, as the architects are more or less aware of it. (It is difficult not to turn this argument circular as the projects chosen all are influential because of their quality and their exemplar status).

Even architects that might be called regionalists operate in their mode of reasoning and communication with others on a global level. Their inspiration, motivation, inquiry, and grounding partly draws from the international discourse, which leads to broadly oriented, well-informed (and therefore, critical) regionalism. This regionalism can be called international as the questions they address apply more to the problems of regionalism in general than on the site-specific characteristics.

Of course, this ongoing "internationalism" is not the only factor to be distinguished in 24 years of architecture in Europe. In their introductory essay, Tzonis and Lefaivre identify and discuss eight "tendencies" in architecture. They distinguish between Populism, Le rappel a` l'ordre, Neo-Rigorism, Skin Rigorism, Critical Regionalism, Call to Disorder, Realism, and an Eighth Tendency which might be called Respectful Diversity. These tendencies are not so much delineated by stylistic differences, as they are characterized by contradistinctions. Tzonis and Lefaivre: "Yet the conflict between individuality and efficiency that populism addressed, between tradition and change that the rappel a` l'ordre struggled with, between true and apparent functionality that neo-rigorism confronted, between community and globality that critical regionalism tried to overcome, and between coherence and completeness that adherents of chaos in architecture and urbanism were engaged in, has proved particularly tenacious."

Accompanying their own essay, four more essays complete the analytical section of "Architecture in Europe". Here, the authors have asked reputed critics from the period under scrutiny to write essays on typology, urbanism, technology, and ecology. In this way they hope to establish a forum inviting discussion rather than presenting an ultimate truth. Fritz Neumeyer's "The Second-Hand City: Modern Technology and Changing Urban Identity" identifies the roots and future of current architecture in the intrusion and exposure of "engineering" technology in the architectural city around 1900. Jean-Louis Cohen's "New Directions in French Architecture and the Showcase of the Paris City Edge (1965-1990)" discusses developments in French architecture. The negative influences of industrial technology and the challenges posed by it and new developments like computer-aided design, are addressed by Peter Rice in "The Dilemma of Technology". Lucius Burckhardt seriously doubts in his "On Ecological Architecture: a Memo" whether there has ever really been sound ecological architecture.

Although these five essays form the analytical part of the survey, it does not really stop there. The second part of the book concerns the 79 selected projects. They are dealt with in a more or less chronological order. Each project is described both in photo and drawing, as well as in an accompanying article. Rather than duplicating the work of the pictures, the text gives a more global interpretation of the work, its intentions, leading ideas, and relations to other works of the same architect or related projects of others.

The text thus furthers the analytical first part of the book, as here there is the opportunity to address the individual projects themselves and concentrate on architectural topics on a building level. The authors have taken the advantage of retrospect to reinterpret the oldest projects and link them to the most recent ones (for example, in indicating why Kroll's and Rossi's approaches in Louvain and Modena respectively were inappropriate for Libeskind's project in Berlin). In this way they are able to identify and pinpoint their points for the "framework of reference".

This does not mean that the text gives no attention to the specific projects; these remain the primal points of focus. The fact that the selected buildings belong to the exemplars of modern architecture helps to keep the text detached from detailed building description, as the reader will be familiar with most of them. The same fact also makes it difficult to write something original about the projects. Connecting the buildings to others by reference and retrospect is a good solution in this case. The articles remain lucid and add to the documented material.

The book concludes with an index and a documentation on the architects and buildings.

"Architecture in Europe" will be followed by many more of the kind as the next millennium will close in. The last on 20th century architecture (both in Europe and any other place of the world) has not been built, said, nor published. This is not the only reason why one can better wait for other publications. "Architecture in Europe" deals with well-documented, exemplar pieces of architecture, that were renowned when realized and still form inspiration for current architects. Although the specific collection in itself is new, valid, and offers a inspiring and surprising juxtaposition of projects, it does not really add very much to the "well-informed". The accompanying essays cover some areas of developments in the last 24 years, but leave also much unsaid. As a forum, they do not really invite discussion in this bookform. Maybe this is because they are fairly unrelated to each other, and save for Peter Rice, do not make strong propositions.

It also seems that this kind of surveys in book forms are nearing their end of possibilities. New developments in information technology will make surveys function in unprecedented ways. Combining hypermedia (a modest first approach is presented here on LAVA) and CD-ROM to present surveys on architecture to the reader will offer the possibility to transform the reader into a researcher himself. Factual material will be provided and pre-established links will enable different readings and interpretations of the projects. The user (perhaps more appropriate a term than reader) can deploy own methods of organizing the material, and via interactively establishing new links, patterns and analytical methods, becomes acquainted with the matter himself. Of course, there is always the choice to go back to basics and have one or more authorized sources guide the reader through the material.

These modern technologies will not replace books (if anything, automation has increased the use of paper) as these still are more pleasurable to read and consult. But the need to compile these surveys in books will probably decrease as their successors will accommodate readers in more ways than any book could ever hope to achieve.