Architecture has the unique opportunity to have an active dialogue through time. Reacting to what has come before, responding to the present and place-making to facilitate life in the future. As such, the discipline is intimately concerned with the idea of ‘legacy.’ Whether by a movement, a culture, a person, or a mark on a page, we are informed by that which precedes us. We tap in to an eternity of resources which, in turn, inform what we leave our successors. In an increasingly digital age, where information is exchanged in an instant, the time given to critical reflection and thoughtful projection is becoming a valuable and rare artefact.

This book marks the culmination of the 2017 Alexander Thomson Scholarship and fulfils the goal of contributing to the world of architectural writing by way of offering reflections on the theme of ‘legacy’ and its relevance to the discipline of architecture across seventeen essays written by architecture students and young architects. It was appropriate in Thomson’s Bicentenary Year to hold a distinct scholarship which was written, reflecting Thomson’s use of critical writing as a tool to disseminate ideas. To celebrate the bi-centenary of his birth, architecture students and architects across the UK under the age of 30 were asked: “What will speak for you long after you are gone?”