The purpose of this post is to introduce my newest list – Best Architects of All Time – The Critics’ Picks – but instead of writing a thought-provoking essay, I thought I would provide a sample of some of the most interesting, beautiful, outrageous and, yes, thought-provoking architectural designs ever built. To provide a variety of architectural styles and periods, I created a few fairly obvious categories (churches, museums, bridges, airports, etc.) and posted photos of five different examples of each category. Why five? Not sure, but two wasn’t enough and ten was too many.
Five Castles
Krak des Chevaliers (1170). Architect: Unknown. Location: Near Homs, Syria.
Château de Chambord (1547). Architect: Unknown. Location: Chambord, France.
Himeji Castle (1581; 1609; 1618). Architect: Unknown. Location: Himeji, Japan.
Palace of Versailles (1678; 1684; 1710). Architects: Numerous. Location: Versailles, France.
Neuschwanstein Castle (1892). Architect: Eduard Reidl. Location: Hohenschwangau, Germany.
Five Single-Family Residences
Villa Capra “La Rotunda” (1566). Architect: Andrea Palladio. Location: Near Vicenza, Italy.
Poplar Forest (1826). Architect: Thomas Jefferson. Location: Near Lynchburg, Virginia.
Robie House (1909). Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright. Location: Chicago, Illinois.
Villa Savoye (1931). Architects: Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret. Location: Poissy, France.
Farnsworth House (1951). Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Location: Plano, Illinois.
Five Bridges
Brooklyn Bridge (1883). Architect: John Augustus Roebling. Location: New York, New York.
Tower Bridge (1886-1894). Architect: Sir Horace Jones. Location: London, UK.
Golden Gate Bridge (1937). Architects: Joseph Strauss, Irving Morrow & Charles Ellis. Location: San Francisco, California.
Millau Viaduct (2004). Architects: Norman Foster and Michel Virlogeux. Location: Millau, France.
Bridge of Strings (2008). Architect: Santiago Calatrava. Location: Jerusalem, Israel.
Five Churches (exterior view)
Basilica of San Vitale (547 CE). Architect: Unknown. Location: Ravenna, Italy.
Notre Dame de Paris (1345). Architect: Bishop Sully (attrib.). Location: Paris, France.
Milan Cathedral (1386-1965). Architects: Numerous. Location: Milan, Italy.
Saint-Pierre (2006). Architects Le Corbusier and José Oubrerie. Location: Firminy, France.
Crystal Cathedral (1981). Architect: Philip Johnson. Location: Garden Grove, California.
Five Churches (interior view)
Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe (549 CE). Architect: Unknown. Location: Near Ravenna, Italy.
Sainte-Chapelle (1248). Architect: Unknown. Location: Paris, France.
Santa Maria presso San Satiro (1482). Architect: Donato Bramante. Location: Milan, Italy.
Church of Sant’andrea al Quirinale (1670). Architect: Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Location: Rome, Italy.
St. Paulinus Church (1753). Architect: Balthasar Neumann. Location: Trier, Germany.
Five Museums
British Museum (1847). Architect: Sir Robert Smirke. Location: London, UK.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1959). Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright. Location: New York, New York.
The Menil Collection (1987). Architect: Renzo Piano. Location: Houston, Texas.
Quadracci Pavilion, Milwaukee Art Museum (2001). Architect: Santiago Calatrava. Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Museum of Islamic Art (2008). Architect: I.M. Pei. Location: Doha, Qatar.
Five Skyscrapers
Wainwright Building (1890). Architects: Louis Sullivan & Denkmar Adler. Location: St. Louis, Missouri.
Flatiron Building (1902). Architect: Daniel Burnham. Location: New York, New York.
Empire State Building (1931). Architect: Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. Location: New York, New York.
Seagram Building (1958). Architects: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe & Philip Johnson. Location: New York, New York.
Burj Khalifa (2009). Architect: Adrian Smith/SOM. Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Five Theaters
Sheldonian Theatre (1668). Architect: Sir Christopher Wren. Location: Oxford, UK.
Palais des Beaux-Arts (1928). Architect: Victor Horta. Location: Brussels, Belgium.
House of Culture (1958). Architect: Alvar Aalto. Location: Helsinki, Finland.
Walt Disney Concert Hall (2003). Architect: Frank Gehry. Location: Los Angeles, California.
Casa da Musica (2005). Architect: Rem Koolhaas. Location: Porto, Portugal.
Five Government Buildings
United States Capitol (1800). Architects: William Thornton and others. Location: Washington, D.C.
Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) (1870). Architects: Charles Barry & Augustus Pugin. Location: London, UK.
National Congress of Brazil (1961). Architect: Oscar Niemeyer. Location: Brasilia, Brazil.
National Assembly Building (1982). Architect: Le Corbusier. Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Kuwait National Assembly Building (1982). Architects: Jørn Utzon & Jan Utzon. Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Five Multi-Family Dwellings
Casa Milà (La Pedrera) (1910). Architect: Antoni Gaudí. Location: Barcelona, Spain.
Unité d’habitation (1952). Architect: Le Corbusier. Location: Marseilles. France.
Nemausus Housing (1987). Architect: Jean Nouvel. Location: Nimes, France.
Nexus World Housing (1991). Architect: Rem Koolhaas. Location: Fukuoka, Japan.
Turning Torso (2005). Architect: Santiago Calatrava. Location: Malmö, Sweden.
Five Airports
TWA Terminal, John F. Kennedy Airport (1962). Architect: Eero Saarinen. Location: New York, New York.
Hajj Terminal, King Abdulaziz International Airport (1981). Architect: Fazlur Rahman Khan/SOM. Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Terminal 1, Los Angeles International Airport (1982). Architect: Norma Merrick Sklarek. Location: Los Angeles, California.
Kansai International Airport (1994). Architect: Renzo Piano. Location: Osaka Bay, Japan.
Hong Kong International Airport (1998). Architect: Norman Foster. Location: Chek Lap Kok Island, China.
To see my new list of the Best Architects of All Time, click here.
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