FX.co ★ Most Famous Architects of Our Time

Frank Gehry (born 1929)

According to Frank Gehry, 'we live and work in boxes. People don't even notice that. Most of what's around us is banal. We live with it. We accept it as inevitable. People say, 'This is the world the way it is and don't bother me.' Then when somebody does something different, real architecture, the push back is amazing. People resist it.' Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1989. His studio is currently engaged in the creation of shopping centers's interiors and is considered one of the leading companies in the world.

The style that Frank Owen Gehry represents can be safely called "anti-architectural", as it does not fit into the traditional notions of modern urbanism. This is due to the fact that the forms that this American architect of Polish origin creates, although outwardly appear unstable, broken and not fitting into the usual concept of the image of the city, are nevertheless surprisingly very strong. Take a look at the famous Dancing House in Prague and you will immediately understand everything.

Norman Foster (born 1935)

“Before you build something – listen to the city, before you demolish something – listen to your heart”, British architect Norman Foster, the founder of the high-tech style in architecture and a laureate of the Imperial and Pritzker Prizes. Thanks to the mentoring of the American architect Richard Fuller, Norman Foster began to pay much attention to the preservation of the environment and sought to implement projects with minimal material costs. It often happened that the objects did not fit into the general architectural environment of the city. This happened with the skyscraper Mary-Ex which received the humorous nickname "cucumber".

Despite such criticism, the architect remains true to his style and currently has more than 100 completed projects, 7 of which are referred to as "7 Wonders of Norman Foster." The facade of the famous Hurst Tower skyscraper impresses with an unusual triangular motif, thanks to which the building looks good both far and near.

Massimiliano Fuksas (born 1944)

The Italian Massimiliano Fuksas is working on most of his objects together with his wife Doriana. The architect does not refer his creativity to a particular style, preferring to build on space and work with forms intuitively, in a whiff, creating futuristic buildings, full of tension.

At the same time, he emphasizes that architecture should not be an act of the architect's egocentrism. He never forgets that he works for the benefit of society: "Many architects hesitate to speak in terms of expression and emotion, yet you emphasize emotion as an integral part of any project. How does that figure in your work? I have to build emotions, for myself and for others. What is emotion? It's more than geometry, more than space, more than function, more than some problem. It's something that we feel. In this field, we need much more emotion than before". So, the new airport terminal in Chinese Shenzhen outlines will resemble an airplane with wings spread. The two-layer facing of the metal and glass facade will be covered with thousands of geometric "honeycombs" - light wells that will fill the halls of the terminal with natural light and create a dynamic play of reflexes and shadows inside the building.

Zaha Hadid (1950-2016)

During her life Zaha Hadid was among the most influential thinkers of the planet, she was a bright media personality, the author of many installations, stage and exhibition spaces, collections of shoes. However, 950 completed projects in 44 countries of the world became the most significant contribution to the world cultural heritage. Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize.

Zaha Hadid expressed the uniqueness of her style and forms with one phrase: “There are 360 degrees, so why stick to one?” She considered the influence of Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich's avant-garde art on her own avant-garde architecture: the triumph of curved lines manifests itself in many of her works. The center of Heydar Aliyev in Baku is a vivid confirmation of this.

Santiago Calatrava (born 1951)

Little is known about the personal life of the popular Spanish architect, but this does not prevent him from being popular and in demand. Santiago Calatrava speaks seven languages fluently and recently lives in New York. The main hobby and business of his life is the design of unusual buildings. Santiago is the world's only architect, whose works are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Spanish architect, whose style is defined as bio-tech (inorganic architecture), or romantic high-tech, does not tear into the big leagues of architects. The buildings of Calatrava balance on the brink of architecture, engineering and sculpture: thus, the Museum of Tomorrow, opened in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics, is set perpendicular to the quay and creates the impression of an object "floating above the surface of the water like a ship or a bird ".