William of Sens practised at a period when the terms of architecture itself were under argument.
The record lists William of Sens as 12th-century French architect.
William of Sens was born at Sens in 1200. His recorded nationality is France.
Medieval construction was collective and slow - cathedrals outlasted the men who began them - and the master mason was a craftsman rather than an author.
He is recorded as architect.
His best-known building is Canterbury Cathedral. Buildings outlast their architects and usually their purposes, which is what makes the discipline unforgiving.
That the work was built in France shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
William of Sens died in 1180, aged -20. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Canterbury Cathedral
