These American architects, among the most famous of the contemporary era, have given the world some of the most impressive buildings.
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman, the poster boy of architectural deconstruction, is known as much for his buildings as for his philosophical and critical positions. According to him, architecture must remove the center, hierarchy, order and functionality from its concerns. His greatest achievements include the Cultural Center of Santiago de Compostela and the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
Frank Gehry
His sinuous titanium buildings have made his mark; Frank Gehry is the architect behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Beekman Place in New York. Wavering between the deconstructivist school and socially responsible architecture, Gehry is one of the best known and most daring architects of the contemporary era.
See the full article on Frank Gehry
Daniel Libeskind
After the 1985 Venice Biennale, where he won the Leone di Petra prize, Daniel Libeskind’s reputation is well established. A member of the deconstructivist school of architecture and deeply affected by questions of Jewishness in the modern world, Libeskind was one of the architects selected for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York. One of his most interesting projects is the “Empty Line,” six empty spaces running the full height of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, representing the immeasurable void in German history caused by the Holocaust. His other impressive works include the North Pavilion of the Imperial War Museum in Manchester and the Maurice Wohl Center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Steven Holl
Named America’s best architect in 2001 by Time magazine for buildings that satisfy “the mind as well as the eye,” Steven Holl has a phenomenological and existentialist approach to architecture. The result is buildings designed to fill in and complement particular spaces, such as the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Simmons Hall at MIT, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art extension in Kansas.
Diller Scodifio + Renfro
Under this mythical name, Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scodifio and Charles Renfro have been collaborating since 1997 to give the world some of the most impressive buildings of the contemporary era. These include the Blur Building in Yverdon, the High Line in New York, and the renovation of the Juilliard School in New York. Diller Scodifio + Renfro are also active in the art world: since 1981, they have presented unique works at numerous international festivals.
Richard Meier
Richard Meier, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1984, is an architect who works in the abstract. Color and zany forms are an integral part of all his buildings. Since 1963, he has headed Richard Meier & Partners Architects. His best-known projects include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rolandseck, Germany.
Ieoh Ming Pei
An American architect of Chinese origin, Ieoh Ming Pei combines functionality and purity of form in his construction. Following in the footsteps of Walter Gropius, his style aims for architectural universality. He is the genius behind the Glass Pyramid in the Louvre, Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, and the Palazzo Lombardia in Milan. He won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1983, and the Praemium Imperiale, awarded by the Japanese Academy of Fine Arts in 1989.
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