"There is a new architecture in Europe" was the motto of the first and second Vienna Architecture Congress. With the end of a divided Europe, experts from nearly all countries of this multi-cultured continent convened in 1993 and 1994 to hold discussions on the nature of European architecture in the 1990s.

The present volume contains the revised and edited contributions to this congress. Its aim is not to confirm what has already been reported by the media, but rather to draw attention to new tendencies and problems; the formative factors and roots of architecture in Europe; its complexity and heterogeneity, its hopes and achievements as perceived by expert observers from each participating country.

Speakers were asked to address but a single question: What are the five best examples of architecture in your country of the last five years?

Unsurprisingly, the replies were disparate, in keeping with the uniqueness of each national situation. Europe's new architecture is coming across exactly like its exponents: heterogeneous, multilayered, embarking on discovery and ready for dialogue. But in one feature the examples presented here are alike: all are searching for architectural inspiration which will tie them to the modern classical tradition.