#xE2;#xAC;SFirst we shape things, then they shape us#xE2;#xAC;, was Churchill#xE2;#xAC;"s view. What kind of architecture can be said to shape? Who does it shape? And by what means does it shape? The author#xE2;#xAC;"s answers to these questions are a surprise. Through war and proximity to stress. After a tour d#xE2;#xAC;"horizon through Roman temples, Washington#xE2;#xAC;"s corridors of power and Mecca#xE2;#xAC;"s anti-panic architecture it becomes clear that architecture is anything but in the background. Instead it is situated in the hot spot of transmission dynamics and is capable of altering cultures, empires and even religions.