Top 10 World Famous Living Architects



Photo by Roman Logov on Unsplash

In this article, we shall explore the famous architects that are behind the world-famous buildings. Their talent and unique mindset made their work creative and mindblowing. The fact that they are out there creating many more projects is admirable. The legacy these architects hold will forever be here and the extraordinary buildings they’ve created will be the proof of it.

  1. Frank Gehry
  • Amazingly, one of the most well-known architects in the world, Frank Gehry, first became well-known for creating his own home
  • One of the earliest examples of deconstructive architecture is said to be The Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California
  • Gehry’s house has long been a source of admiration because it was constructed from such unusual elements as corrugated steel and chain-link fencing
  • Since then, among Gehry’s several well-known creations include the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, France, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain (shown), the New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, and many others
  • Gehry is currently the National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial’s designer

2. I.M. Pei

  • I.M. Pei, who was born in China, is without a doubt one of the most incredible and well-known architects on the entire globe
  • The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the west wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Fragrant Hill Hotel in China, the Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, are just a few examples of his classic and thought-provoking designs
  • For his contributions to the realm of architecture, Pei received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983
  • Even though Pei stopped working as an architect on a full-time basis in 1990, he now consults for his sons’ firm, Pei Partnership Architects

3. Zaha Hadid

  • The world’s most well-known female architect, Zaha Hadid, has established herself as a fantastic role model for women in the traditionally male-dominated profession of architecture
  • Hadid, an Iraqi-born architect who studied at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and the School of Architecture in London, is known for designing well-known structures like Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, the Guangzhou Opera House, and the aquatics center for the London Olympics
  • Hadid won the Pritzker Architecture Prize for a pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain, in 2004, becoming the first female architect to do so

4. Renzo Piano

  • Italian architect Renzo Piano is best known for his work on museums; he also designed the New York Times Building in Manhattan, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the NEMO science museum in Amsterdam, the Auditorium Parc della Musica in Rome, and The Shard in London, which is currently the tallest skyscraper in the European Union
  • And The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris is perhaps Piano’s most notable design, for which the New York Times claimed that he had “turned the architecture world upside down

5. Jean Nouvel

  • French architect Jean Nouvel is known for creating some of the most popular and well-known structures on the entire globe
  • The expansion of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain; the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Copenhagen Concert Hall in Denmark; the Doha Tower skyscraper in Qatar
  • Nouvel won the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize for the Torre Agbar skyscraper in Barcelona
  • Nouvel is a founding member of Syndicat de l’Architecture, the top French union for architects
  • Several projects, notably the new Abu Dhabi location of the Louvre Museum, are currently being worked on by Nouvel

6. Sir David Chipperfield

  • It’s no surprise that Sir David Chipperfield is one of the most incredible architects in the world with work in more than 20 nations across four continents
  • Chipperfield, a British architect with offices also in Berlin, Milan, and Shanghai, is primarily responsible for the design of a number of museums, hotels, and governmental structures, including the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany, the Valentino New York Flagship store, America’s Cup Building in Valencia, Spain, the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Liangzhu Culture Museum in China, and numerous others
  • More impressively, Chipperfield’s works have won over 100 awards in the fields of architecture and design, including the esteemed RIBA Stirling Prize (2007), the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (2011), and the Deutscher Architekturpreis (2011)

7. Santiago Calatrava

  • Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who is renowned for his distinctive neo-futuristic design, has completed approximately 100 structures over more than three decades
  • Though bridges and train stations made up the bulk of his early work, he is also well known for a wide range of theatres, hotels, sports arenas, and museums
  • The Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece; the Liege-Guillemins railway station in Liege, Belgium; the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem in Israel; the Alamillo bridge in Sevilla, Spain; the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece; the Alamillo bridge in Sevilla, Spain;
  • Numerous honours have been given to Calatrava’s work, such as the Auguste Perret Prize, the AIA Gold Medal, and the European Prize for Architecture

8. Moshe Safdie

  • Moshe Safdie, an architect, urban planner, educator, thinker, and author who was born in Israel but has lived most of his life in Canada, has long been regarded as a major force in the field of architecture
  • Dramatic curves, geometric patterns, and generous use of windows and greenery are all distinctive elements of Safdie’s architectural design
  • Over the course of his career, he has created more than 40 structures, some of the most amazing of which include the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Yad Vashern Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, and Habitat 67 in Quebec, Canada

9. Peter Zumthor

  • Swiss architect Peter Zumthor is well-known and esteemed for his uncluttered creations
  • Despite running a relatively tiny business in Haldenstein, Switzerland, Zumthor has built up a rather amazing portfolio that includes, among other things, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, the Cloud Rock Wilderness Lodge in Moab, Utah, and Therme Vals in Graubunden, Switzerland
  • Over sixteen important prizes have been given to Zumthor’s work in the past three decades, with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture (2006), the Pritzker Prize (2009), and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal among the most notable (2013)

10. Tom Wright

  • Tom Wright is one of the top ten most incredible architects, despite the fact that he only has one significant piece of work to his name
  • Wright, who is based in London, has spent the majority of his career leading Atkins, a global engineering, design, planning, and architectural design firm
  • Wright was appointed design director for the Jumeirah Beach Resort in Dubai in 1993
  • For this project, he created the distinctive Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs), which is today among the most recognizable structures in the world
  • The Burj Al Arab, which was constructed to resemble the sail of a dhow (a traditional Arabic ship), is meant to honour both Dubai’s maritime history and its forward-thinking modernization

REFERENCE:

  1. https://www.bestliberalartscolleges.org/10-amazing-architects-alive-today/

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