Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century with his portfolio of creations exceeding well over 1,000 projects, half of which resulted in completed works.
He was a believer and promoter of organic style of architecture and developed the concept of Usonian house (an architectural style free of conventional details, focused on landscaping as the main part of the project).
The AIA distinguished him with the title of “the greatest American architect of all times”. His palette of creations evoked an immense diversity of buildings, such as schools, churches, skyscrapers or offices.
Guggenheim Museum NYC
Fallingwater House
Philip Johnson
He was an influential American architect, living between 1906 and 2005. In the first part of his career he, as well as many other architects, was focused on building the typical glass and steel towers. However, later he brought his trademark to the scene by designing wonderful crystal structured buildings, which look as if they are covered in glass on all sides.
His works could be characterized as a mixture of Minimalism as Pop Art, and they have been always seen either as a provocation or accepted quickly. He also collaborated with fellow architect Louis Mies van der Rohe on the Seagram Building project.
Crystal Cathedral (California)
Seagram Building
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect with his name resonating all throughout the world of architecture. He has been distinguished with the renowned Pritzker Prize for Architecture for redefining modern and postmodern architectural styles, the American Institute for Architects Gold Medal and the Sonning Prize in Denmark.
He is often times referred to as a high-tech architect, and the majority of his designs focus on comfort for those inhabiting the building, and an overall “serene” outlook of his structures.
Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia
Pompidou Center Paris
Louis Kahn
Louis Kahn was a distinguished American architect who lived in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Among others, throughout his career he has been working as a professor of architecture and a design critic at the Yale School of Architecture.
He has always been fascinated by history and the ancient ruins of our World, and this reflects very well throughout his architectural style. Monumental and massive are perhaps the best words to describe the style and overall outlook of his buildings, and he never spared materials when creating his projects.
Some of his best works include the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven CT, Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (a huge legislative complex, one of the largest in the world) in Dhaka, Bangladesh or the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas.
Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban
Yale University Art Gallery
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a French architect with an impressive career over the span of several decades. He has also won several prestigious awards, such as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture or the Pritzker Prize in 2008. The Arab World Institute in Paris and the Torre Agbar in Barcelona are two of his most talked about works in the field of architecture when it comes to mentioning his name.
Other extremely notable works include the Dentsu Building in Tokyo which is an example of sustainable architecture, and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
The Arab World Institute
Torre Agbar Barcelona
Tom Wright
He is a British architect born in 1957, and he has a well deserved place on this list of some of the world’s most renowned architects. Wright is worldwide known for designing the wonderful Burj Al Arab in Dubai, UAE.
He has been assigned to create a symbol for Dubai, just in the same way the Eiffel Tower is a symbol for France, or the way the Sydney Opera is world renowned landmark for Australia.
The Tower of the Arabs is basically a symbol for moving forward into the future, and this is symbolized with the help of the shape of the tower itself, which is a yacht sail with an extremely stylish and modern outlook.
Tom Wright shares with the readers of his website the following wonderful and inspiring quote, which is his own:
“If you can draw a building with a few sweeps of the pen and everyone recognizes not only the structure but also associates it with a place on earth, you have gone a long way towards creating something iconic” (Tom Wright, 2000).….and he is so right.
Burj Al Arab
Al Rajhi Tower (approved)
Mimar Sinan
Mimar Sinan is the most resonant name in Ottoman Turkish architecture, and he lived between 1490 and 1588. He constructed more than 250 breathtaking structures.
He designed mainly mosques and schools of theology, but among his projects there are also several hospitals, primary schools, aqueducts and arches. Two of his most famous pieces of work include the Selimiye Mosque (Edirne) and the Suleiman Mosque from Istanbul, Turkey.
Selimiye Mosque
Suleiman Mosque
Andrea Palladio
He was an Italian architect belonging to the Renaissance period, in the 16th century. His main works can be seen in the beautiful city of Venice, Italy. He is considered by many critics and arts people in the field as one of the most influential architects of Western style architecture.
The majority of his projects did not require very expensive materials, which has made him a favoured architect even among those who did not have huge financial possibilities. Brick and stucco were two materials favoured by him, and these were mainly used for the creation of the wonderful villas in Northern Italy.
Basilica Palladiana
Palazzo Chiericati
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind was born in 1946, and is a prominent American architect of Jewish-Polish descent. The architect actually started his real career quite late, with his first building being completed after the age of 50.
He is also famous for having been selected for the team of architects that would design and re-build the World Trade Center. Some of his most notable works include the Jewish Museum of Berlin, The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, the Imperial War Museum North (England), and the London Metropolitan University.
The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge
London Metropolitan University
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie is a Haifa born architect, who currently lives in Canada. He has been an outstanding student, and he actually was the apprentice of Louis Kahn.
His works bear an unmistakable trademark of using curvaceous lines, open spaces and simple geometric forms for his projects.
Some notable projects include the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), Habitat 67 in Montreal Quebec, and currently under construction the United States Institute of Peace in Washington DC.
Habitat ’67 Complex of Apartments
National Gallery of Canada
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
He was an excellent architect with German descent, and he lived between 1886 and 1969. He is a key figure in the development of Modern architecture alongside names like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius.
Clarity and extreme simplicity are the characteristics of his works, and all throughout his career Mies made an ambition out of creating a representative architectural style for the 20th century, just as the Gothic style is representative for its era.
He made lavishly use of steel and glass structures to define his buildings, but also strived to use as little framework as possible, to keep the “open space”. Mies characterized his own style as one of “skin and bones” architecture.
Barcelona Pavilion
Martin Luther King Memorial Library
James Stirling
Sir James Frazer Stirling was a prolific British Architect, who has been believed to be one the most influential architects of the late 20th century.
His sources of inspiration laid deep into history, because he loved to borrow and blend into his works several architectural styles, such as the early Baroque, the Roman style, and incorporating the most modern trends as well.
History Faculty Library in Cambridge
Neue Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche is extremely well known and loved architect, especially for his creativeness to blend glass structures into his works. He has been studying under another world famous architect, Louis Mies van der Rohe during the 1950s.
Roche has been awarded the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1982, and several other high distinctions for his achievements in the field of architecture. Among his notable works: the Ford Foundation Building, the Knights of Columbus Building (New Haven, CT), UN Headquarters, and the Convention Center Dublin in 2010.
Knights of Columbus
Convention Centre Dublin
Louis Henry Sullivan
He was an extremely renowned American architect who lived between 1856 and 1924, and he has been nicknamed the father of the skyscrapers. A very important proponent of modernism, he has created several modern skyscraper buildings using tons of steel and glass against Chicago’s skyline.
Among his most notable works one can mention the Guaranty Building in Buffalo NY, built as early as 1894 (also known as Prudential Building), Auditorium Building in Chicago (1889), or the Union Trust Building.
Old Chicago Stock Exchange Building
Auditorium Building Chicago
Kenzo Tange
Kenzo Tange was an architect from Japan, who has won several prestigious awards during the lifespan of his career, among which the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1987. He was renowned for blending Japanese traditionalism and world modernism in his works.
He was also a proponent of structuralism, which was a movement that basically did not focus on the “human inhabitant” of the structure, and focused more on urban planning with a sort of a “lifeless” outlook and structure.
Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
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