“The supreme art is architecture,” said Frank Lloyd Wright. “With no architecture of our own we have no soul of our own very civilization.”
While Frank Lloyd Wright is no longer alive, today’s working architects seem to be taking his words to heart. Certainly, the last half century has seen the construction of such iconic buildings as:
- The Guggenheim Museum which is located in Spain,
- Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall,
- The Riverside Museum that is to be found in Scotland, as well as
- The Burj Al Arab tower in Dubai.
While some of these magnificent buildings, such as the Guggenheim, literally house our culture, others, such as the Burj Al Arab, act as an enduring symbol of a civilization. In either one of these cases, these buildings are just a couple of examples of the way in which modern architecture has continued to bring Wright’s words to life through representing the “soul of our own civilization.”
Perhaps it’s no big surprise then that such culturally important buildings would be designed by the most incredible architects alive today, architects who are following in the footsteps of such greats as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier in addition to Antoni Gaudi.
Read all about the most famous modern architects below who lead the industry in creative building design, and producing iconic buildings of today!
Before we start, if you believe we’re missing anyone, feel free to reach out.
Álvaro Siza
Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira (who was born on 25 June 1933) is a Portuguese architect and architectural educator, who was internationally known as Álvaro Siza. In 1955, Siza graduated in architecture at the institution, which was formerly known as the School of Fine Arts, in the Universidade do Porto.
He finished his first built work (four houses in Matosinhos) even before completing his studies in 1954, the same year that he established his private practice in Porto. In 1992, Siza was awarded the Pritzker Prize for the renovation project which he coordinated in the Chiado area of Lisbon
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid has proven herself to be a great role model for women in the male-controlled field of architecture. Born in Iraq and trained at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon as well as the School of Architecture in London, Hadid is responsible for designing such celebrated buildings as:
- The Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Scotland;
- The Guangzhou opera house in China; and
- The aquatics centre for the London Olympics.
In 2004, Hadid was the very first woman to bag the Pritzker Architecture Prize for a pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain.
Norman Foster
Norman Foster was born in 1935. He is a British architect whose company, Foster + Partners, provides an international design practice celebrated for high-tech architecture.
When you are going to London, one of the first buildings to catch your eye will be the 30 St Mary Axe. This contemporary construction is a commercial skyscraper in London’s main financial district where many people use the money they won playing real money Canadian slots to improve their investment portfolios. Other well-known buildings from Foster are the Torre de Collserola in Barcelona, and the Willis Building in Ipswich.
