Rem Koolhaas is a cofounder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Having worked as a journalist and scriptwriter before becoming an architect, in 1978 he published Delirious New York. His 1996 book S, M, L, XL summarized the work of OMA and established connections of contemporary society and architecture. He was listed among TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in 2008, and among many international awards and exhibitions he received the Pritzker Prize (2000) and the Praemium Imperiale (2003). He directed the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, coinciding with the first publication of Elements of Architecture.

Derived from Rem Koolhaas’s much-lauded exhibition at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, this is a primordial toolkit to understanding all the essential elements of structures around the globe. Conceived by Koolhaas himself, this guide is long overdue: in his own words, “Never was a book more relevant—at a moment where architecture as we know it is changing beyond recognition.”