Postmodern architecture was characterized by four dominant beliefs: that architecture was distinct from the materiality of things; that history had an operative role to play in the present; that the emergence of a culture dominated by images enabled architects to equate drawing with authorship; and that architecture could secure its status among the arts by staking a claim to the exhibition space. While each strand of this belief system had deep historical roots, the expanding reach of American corporations played a crucial role in transforming these ideas into what was then termed the first global style.