Architecture is commonplace. We inhabit it and use it; it is constantly present; it serves as foreground and background and usually has a story to tell. Numerous volumes are devoted to its typology, history, construction, and design. But apart from its most illustrious makers, we know almost nothing about the people who conceived it: the architects. What Kind of Architect Are You?, the question most architects encounter when they reveal their profession, is difficult to answer.

What Kind of Architect Are You? showcases a panoply of architectural practices to a reading audience that shares an interest in the profession. Topics range from the theoretical to design build, from installations that challenge our preconceptions to the set of TV shows on home remodelling, from instructing future architects in the US to expanding the reach of the profession worldwide.

The collection offers a glimpse into a vast array of professional possibilities and points out meaningful alternatives to the prevailing myth of the ''starchitect''. It provides those in search of an architect with insights into how we work and helps them to formulate expectations. It challenges practitioners to think introspectively and examine how they fit into the architectural spectrum. And finally, the collection documents the cross-section of cultural and architectural practice across America.

The reader may find that the ''voice'' varies throughout the collection. That variation is consistent with the variety of architects included in fact, it underscores the myriad of responses to What Kind of Architect Are You?