Problem Statement: Current web contains billions of documents and has many administrative problems and limitations; in addition to that the web content is still accessible only to humans. The solution to these problems is the Semantic Web. The Semantic Web is considered to be the extension for the current web. But there are problems facing the Semantic Web now, such as there is no clear architecture for it, there are four versions created by Tim Berners-Lee, but still up to now there is no agreement for one of these visions nor is there a clear picture for the relation between different layers inside this architecture and the associated technologies. The objectives of this study were to: (i) Identify the weaknesses that existed in the previous architectures and (ii) Reach a new architecture that corrects these weaknesses. Approach: This research uses the Qualitative Analysis Approach of Taylor and Renner, presents the four versions of the Semantic Web architecture, describing the function(s) and status of each layer and associated technologies, evaluates them using Gerber evaluation method and determines other design principles needed to modify and adapt this architecture as a step toward an agreement for one Semantic Web architecture. Results: The design of a new model for the Semantic Web architecture depends on the idea of previous versions. Conclusion: As a step toward a unified architecture for the Semantic Web, our study of the Semantic Web architecture highlighted some weaknesses that existed in the previous architectures, modify, adapt and reach a new architecture that corrects these weaknesses.
