The enthusiasm of Angelo Maggi, a historian of architectural photography, led the heirs of George Everard Kidder Smith (1913-1997) to move his archive from New York to the Università Iuav di Venezia. A fruit of this donation is this first monograph ever published on one who did so much to spread architectural culture in the second half of the 20th century. Having earned a fine arts bachelor and master in 1935 and 1938, he was licensed as an architect in 1946. From the start he leaned towards research and dissemination, and on his own initiative, with the help of grants, he devoted himself to editing books and curating exhibitions.

In the Grand Tour tradition and with Dorothea, his wife and indefatigable collaborator, he visited countries with camera in tow, capturing works of architecture, monuments, cities, and landscapes on film, to then pass it all on to the wider public through publications based on the power of technically and visually consistent images which this book takes stock of in synthesized form. Kidder Smith explored the interdependence between vernacular tradition and the international modern language, ultimately to understand and preserve the built environment, and act upon it in a balanced way.

Brazil Builds, Sweden Builds, Switzerland Builds, and Italy Builds were the first publications of a narrative backed by graphic design and the power of photography. Two decades later, works focused on his own country wrapped up the ‘construction’ of a legacy of a dozen books which still show us how to look at architecture.