From the late 1940's at the inception of the oil exporting industry, via political independence in 1961, through to the late 1980's when Kuwait was invaded, the city-state experienced an etraordinary social and civic transformation, deeply inscribed in its built environment. The old coasttal town was radically tranformed through architecture and urban planning in the process of gaining wealth and automomy. Important foreign and local architects found here the possibility to expand their professional horizons and the challenge to ompose an entire city, creating important examples of Late Modern Architecture during these four decades. This publication is based on several years of multidisiplinary research, featuring a repertoire of more than 150 buildings, all fully illustrated and analyzed in order to understand the dymanics of change and innovation they represent.