“The Gherkin” (180 m, steel, aluminium and glass) by Norman Foster and ex-partner Ken Shuttleworth.
A distinctive cone-like shape (to reduce the wind turbulence), environmentally sensitive approach to design, its omplex facade lets in air for passive cooling and then vents it as it warms and rises.
Tallest brick building in the world (320m), by William van Alen.
Art Deco architecture, the distinctive ornamentation of the tower is based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles.
My favorite classic building.
 |
 |
Founded in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, now major figures on the international architecture. They have turned enveloping buildings into an art form. Fascinated by everyday materials, they explore textures, before transforming them into something surprising…
Their vision of architecture is however less concerned with radical innovation than with an uninterrupted and gradual transformation of existing projects.
Prada Store in Tokyo
Walker Art Center’s new addition (Minneapolis, USA)
http://www.architecturemag.com/architecture/reports_analysis/design_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000965987
Allianz arena, Munich, Deutschland
project for the Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany
Austere electrical power plant of Bankside, metamorphosed into the daring Tate Modern (London)
Artist’s impression of the Roche headquarters tower (2011, Basel, Switzerland)
http://193.74.228.82/archinews/012006/newsletter01_en.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzog_%26_de_Meuron
Charles Francis Murphy and Helmut Jahn.
Flamboyant “romantic modernism”, glass façades.
Liberty Place (1990, Philadelphia)
European union headquarters (1998, Brussels, Belgium)
James R. Thompson Center (1985, Chicago)
http://www.murphyjahn.com
http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=145521
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Murphy_%28architect%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Jahn
US architect (Canadian born); sculptural approach to building design. He is best known for building curvaceous structures, often covered with reflective metal. A modern architectural icon and celebrity!
Too famous, too spectacular (vulgar?) architecture, but entertaining!
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
designed by Renzo Piano (who made centre Georges Pompidou in Paris with Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini); cute!
Paul Klee museum in Bern, Switzerland.
by architect Richard Rogers
Ugly, scary but fun!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%27s_building
note: Rogers is now building a new skyscraper in London, on 122 Leadenhall Street (just next Lloyd’s building). Completion: 2008. London is really changing face !
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/122_leadenhall.htm
Supposedly postmodern, heavy and almost totalitarian (“nuclear power plant”) style architecture! but can’t help liking it! Pompously funny.
Groupe architectural du Théâtre (1982, Marne-la-Vallée, ~Paris, France)
America’s most famous architect, one of the most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century. Pure and elegant.
Guggenheim Museum (1955, New-York)
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Bank of China (Hong Kong)
Pyramide du Louvre (Paris)
Florentine renaissance sculptor, mathematician, engineer and architect who established new classic canons of serene rhythms, clear geometry, and symmetry. Also credited to have invented perspective, which revolutionized painting (his mathematical work led to the invention of linear perspective).
Santa Maria del Fiore “Duomo” (Florence, -1436)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Fiore
(Immutef, Ii-em-Hotep)
A wizard, and the first architect and physician known by name to written history!
Two thousand years after his death, his status was raised to that of a god!
(that’s celebrity!...)
Pyramid of Zoser (27th century BC, Saqqarah, Egypt)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Djzos%C3%A8r
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture
Cathedral de Coutances, France
Catalan architect famous for his unique ‘baroque’ ‘organic’ style.
Over the top, gaudy? (...), too famous? but I like it!
Sagrada Família (1883 – unfinished!, Barcelona, Spain)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sagrada_Familia
