These architects are recognized for their ground-breaking designs. These architects have helped shape our world for better.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion made history when he marked a shift away from ornate and traditional styles to sleek and minimalist architecture.
Wright imagined an entirely new architectural style for America that he termed "Prairie." Using Fallingwater as an example, Wright designed homes that seemed to float above their surroundings.
Once he learned from Louis Sullivan, Wright developed his own distinctive design aesthetic. His groundbreaking construction projects pushed back against modern construction practices while inspiring numerous architectural movements around the globe.
Wright found himself engaged in many creative but financially draining endeavors during this decade, including four textile block houses and a luxury resort hotel commissions.
His crowning achievement of this period was the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, designed as a single storey building by Wright. Drawing inspiration from nature and nature's rhythms, Wright believed that structures must work harmoniously with humans and the environment - an idea still relevant today; Wright promoted architecture as "the great mother art behind which all other arts can be clearly, unmistakably and inexorably related".
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, commonly referred to as Le Corbusier, was one of the earliest proponents of modernism. His designs blended functionalism with bold expressionist features. Le Corbusier advocated for loadbearing walls being removed so as to allow spaces that could more readily adapt and evolve with changing lifestyles.
Le Corbusier was known for his innovative use of concrete, as evidenced by his iconic Institut du Monde Arabe building in Paris. This building features mechanical lenses resembling Arabic latticework that open and close depending on light levels, providing natural lighting into interior spaces.
Studio Gang Architects was established by architect Jeanne Gang and is located in Chicago and New York. Gang is internationally known as an expert on sustainable design, using it as an instrument of civic engagement. Her firm Kazuyo Sejima is known for their minimalist designs which incorporate light and nature into buildings while Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas' projects are known for fusing technology with architecture to produce projects which defy gravity while making social statements.
Johnson was an innovative architect, critic, curator, educator and educator renowned for embracing various stylistic movements throughout his long career. Perhaps most renowned are his designs for himself and his family of the Glass House in New Canaan Connecticut which featured minimal structure with geometric proportions; among his other noteworthy works.
Johnson traveled extensively throughout Europe during the 1930s to investigate modern architectural trends and help organize an iconic exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art which introduced many of these architects to American audiences.
Johnson became one of the foremost advocates for Postmodernism and its merging with historical elements in later career, which is evident through his design of New York City's AT&T Building which features an iconic Chippendale cabinet top as part of its aesthetic. Additionally, Johnson was an active preservationist, publicly protesting against demolition of Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station.
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, better known by his post-1920 pseudonym Le Corbusier, was an influential architect, painter, and writer whose theories continue to shape generations of architects today. His work was heavily influenced by modern machines as well as ancient Greek platonic forms; Le Corbusier suggested modern construction could produce highly precise shapes similar to idealized race cars and airplanes - giving rise to his legendary aesthetic theories that continue today.
His design principles - such as eliminating loadbearing walls to maximize space and employing a grid of columns - are considered central to modernism. Some of his most acclaimed buildings include Villa Savoye and Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp.
He also contributed significantly to city planning, with plans he created for Algiers and Chandigarh being among his notable works. However, some found his ideas controversial - particularly those used for public housing projects that isolated communities within monolithic high-rises while breaking social ties integral to healthy societies.
His buildings can often have more of an impactful impression than at first glance. As an innovative Swiss-Spanish architect, he works to craft bold structures that energize cultural institutions and the cities they call home.
Chicago-born architect Henry J. Jacobs died in 1985, leaving behind landmarks such as the Transamerica Pyramid building, LAX Theme Building and lantern-shaped UC San Diego Geisel Library as his legacy. Additionally he designed CBS Television City in Malibu as well as Pepperdine University and Irvine master planned communities - among many others.
After World War II, Pereira established his firm with Charles Luckman and soon became known for their master-planning of complex buildings. They achieved significant recognition through their design of UC Irvine campus structures arranged in two concentric rings that provide student housing near academic facilities.
Buckminster Fuller was an influential American inventor, architect, and engineer who pioneered sustainable architecture through affordable efficient housing. His ideas combined engineering and architecture for functional yet beautiful designs that inspired architects like Richard Meier and Friedensreich Hundertwasser sculptor.
His Dymaxion house used aircraft construction techniques to produce a prefabricated structure that was both fireproof and light weight, but unfortunately the project was abandoned after World War II.
Fuller's geodesic domes were popular among back-to-land hippies who desired an independent lifestyle outside of "Establishment." His ideas are still widely employed today among environmentally conscious designers like Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects who is best known for creating sustainable designs like Chicago's Aqua Tower with her firm Studio Gang Architects; she received several honors and awards including the Pritzker Prize and has had pieces included in many major art exhibitions and collections.
Jacques Herzog (born 1950 in Basel) and Pierre de Meuron ( born 1950 in Basel) first met as children when building Lego houses together as children. Herzog initially attempted commercial design school before switching to biology and chemistry at the University of Basel; de Meuron initially studied civil engineering but eventually changed fields entirely before entering architecture school.
At first, their work displayed formalist and minimalist influences; over time however they began experimenting with decorative elements. Their buildings often involve multiple senses: weight of stone against skin touch, concrete roughness against concrete smoothness and the silk screened glass sheen are just some examples of synaesthetic experiences provided.
Herzog & de Meuron's flagship art-related project is London's Tate Modern (established 2000 from an old power station on Bankside). They also designed Madrid's CaixaForum (2008) and Hamburg's Elba Philharmonic (2015); these designs share common features with Judd, LeWitt, Turrell's works in terms of perception of space.
Ando's minimalist concrete designs, such as those seen at Japan's Himeji Museum of Art, Osaka Chikatsu Asuka Museum and China Wood Sculpture Museum are inspired by Zen influences.
Ando was a self-taught architect who perfected his craft through travel - something he saw as equivalent to formal school training - eventually developing a unique style that would become one of the most influential aspects of contemporary architecture.
Ando initially designed private homes, but his architectural portfolio now spans office buildings, convention centers, factories, resorts, ateliers theatres and clinics as well as houses of worship. He is widely known for his inventive use of paper first used to construct emergency shelters during natural disasters. What matters to Ando more than their form is how well their buildings blend into the surrounding environment.
Santiago Calatrava is an architect and structural engineer known for creating buildings with organic forms that evoke feelings of flight or spiritual elevation. His signature designs quickly caught on among ordinary people tired of modern structures which often seem cold or stark, providing relief through vibrancy or spiritual upliftment.
His award-winning design for a train station in Zurich, Switzerland in the early 1980s propelled him into major civic commissions such as adding wings to Milwaukee Art Museum addition, Malmo Turning Torso tower in Sweden and an opera house in Valencia, Spain - just to name a few.
He is responsible for the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York as well as a complex of museums in Qatar shaped to evoke motion.
Renzo Piano's high-tech structures such as the Centre Georges Pompidou and London's Shard skyscraper have earned him international acclaim, yet have caused considerable debate and opposition - for instance he withdrew his proposal for an 80-story office tower in Boston due to creative differences; additionally plans for 72-story building were shelved due to local objections.
Piano's approach to architecture stems from his family builder roots and belief that buildings should be accessible to the public. His firm still designs cutting-edge buildings today, including California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's new entrance in Boston; additionally he mentors younger architects through G124 initiative for revitalizing Italian suburbs one town at a time; these works straddle both art and architecture with structures like Prague's Dancing House being great examples of his deconstructivist style.
