Joseph Rykwert, an architectural historian, who challenged Modernism’s embrace of functional architecture with his own theory that architecture should reflect a community’s shared values, died on Oct.7 at his home in London. He was 98.

Born in Warsaw in 1926, his family had become convinced that a German invasion of Poland was imminent. They fled through the Baltics to Sweden and then to London, where Joseph began his architectural training at University College London, later transferring to the Architectural Association, from which he graduated in 1947.

Although he spent most of his career in academia, largely at Cambridge and later at the University of Pennsylvania, his work influenced practicing architects and general readers. He was one of only four writers to receive the Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and in 2014 was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for service to the field of architecture.