Looks at the interaction between design and the requirements of patrons, follows the creative processes of architects, and discusses chronology, structural techniques, and stylistic developments. The Gothic Cathedral focuses on the interaction between design and the requirements of patrons, following the creative processes of architects by reconstructing the problems and opportunities which faced them.

Christopher Wilson presents the essential facts on such aspects as chronology, structural techniques and stylistic developments and then goes further, seeing the story as a sequence of choices from which new solutions arose, which, in their turn, gave rise to still more challenges.

Illustrated with carefully chosen photographs and specially drawn diagrams, this fresh, perceptive and provocative book has already established itself as a definitive introduction to the subject.