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Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum KOCHI, JAPAN

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 23:05:22 +0000

KENGO KUMA Set against a backdrop of tall evergreens, this striking museum is the work of Kengo Kuma. A celebrated Japanese architect, Kuma uses traditional materials to create distinctive contemporary structures that stand in harmony with their environment. Yusuhara, a township in Kochi Prefecture, is in a mountainous area with many trees. Kuma had already designed the Town Hall, using locally produced Japanese cedar wood in the walls, floors, and ceilings, and he chose the same material for the museum. Its intricate structure of wooden beams is based on the cantilevers of traditional Japanese temple roofs, but by extending and

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Palace of the Arts OPERA HOUSE VALENCIA, SPAIN

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 22:05:18 +0000

SANTIAGO CALATRAVA One of the sensational buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts is a large, concrete and steel opera house clad in mosaic. It is renowned for its remarkable, soaring white roof, which might be taken for the giant sculpture of a sea creature in motion. At 246ft (75m) high it is the tallest opera house in the world and contains four auditoria-two of them large (one mainly for opera, and the other for multiple uses) and a couple of smaller performance spaces. From the windows of the opera

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Seattle Central Library

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 21:05:14 +0000

REM KOOLHAAS After detailed analysis of the basic needs of a library building, Rem Koolhaas conceived a radical architectural form to fulfill them. The arresting, multifaceted glass skin of the Seattle Central Library makes a dramatic statement in its city setting, yet the interior spaces work in practical terms. At the bottom of the building are the spacious Living Room and Mixing Chamber, the latter housing the library’s information hub. Beyond them rises the Book Spiral, a novel way of displaying the library’s collection in bookcases that spiral upward along a ramp so that volumes do not have to be

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MAXXI MUSEUM ROME, ITALY

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 20:05:11 +0000

ZAHA HADID Italy’s magnificent national museum of 21st-century visual art is a future-oriented exhibition space that promotes cultural innovation. In responding to the challenges of MAXXI, architect Zaha Hadid has created a building as radical and innovative as the institution itself. Faced with an awkward L-shaped plot, the architect came up with the concept of a collection of meandering lines that travel up and down while also crossing from one end of the site to the other. These lines became walls, which enclose not simply a single building, but a series of related “suites, treated almost as separate buildings. They

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Jin Mao Tower COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT SHANGHAI, CHINA

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 19:05:10 +0000

ADRIAN SMITH Since the 1990s no city has seen such dramatic growth as Shanghai. As China developed economically, Shanghai acquired a vast number of new buildings, from shops and banks to office blocks and hotels. The city spread onto land once occupied by farms, but the expansion was vertical as well as horizontal. Among the crop of recent skyscrapers one of the tallest and most spectacular is the 1,380ft (4,205m) Jin Mao Tower. The tower was designed by a large team under the leadership of Adrian Smith of the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), an American practice responsible for

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Grand Palais GALLERY AND MUSEUM PARIS, FRANCE

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 18:05:04 +0000

CHARLES GIRAULT With a floor area of some 775,000 sq ft (72,000 sq m) and perimeter walls around 0.6 miles (1km) in length, the Grand Palais is the largest surviving 19th-century exhibition building from the era of world fairs. It was built in just three years for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 and combines a main structure of iron and glass with monumental stone facades in the grand, neoclassical Beaux Arts style that was promoted by the academic Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Another style, Art Nouveau, is also evident both in the exterior decoration and the sinuous interior ironwork

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CHURCH BARCELONA, SPAIN

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 17:05:02 +0000

ANTONI GAUDI The Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, Barcelona, usually known as the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), is the masterwork of Antoni Gaudl, the great Catalan architect. Gaudl spent the last 40 years of his life on the project, designing the church in a very personal blend of Gothic and the Art Nouveau style that was fashionable in the late 19th century. When he died, however, only a small part of the enormous church had been completed. Since then, building work has continued, largely based on Gaudl’s design, but with major interruptions at various stages, notably during the Spanish

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Sydney Opera House Australia

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 15:04:59 +0000

1957-73 OPERA HOUSE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA J0RN UTZON In 1956 the government of New South Wales, Australia, announced an international competition to design a new opera house for Sydney. The site was Benelong Point, a promontory with views to the sea and the famous Harbour Bridge. Many architects submitted proposals, and the winner was J0rn Utzon, a Danish architect little known outside his home country. Utzon’s design incorporated a series of sculptural white roofs that swept up from near the ground, like the billowing sails of the yachts on the water beyond. It was undoubtedly the stunning form of these roofs,

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Amalienburg Pavilion HUNTING LODGE MUNICH, GERMANY

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:06:15 +0000

FRANCOIS CUVILLIES One of the gems of the European rococo style, the Amalienburg Pavilion was built by the ruler of Bavaria, Elector Karl Albrecht, as a hunting lodge for his wife, Maria Amalia. Designed by Francois Cuvillies, the small, richly decorated building is set in the grounds of the vast Nymphenburg Palace, the Elector’s summer residence in Munich, and is surounded by extensive wooded parkland. The Pavilion was intended as a base for hunting parties, an ornamental feature of the park, and a refuge from the formality of palace life. Cuvillies designed it like a palace in miniature: although a

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Blenheim Palace WOODSTOCK, UK

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:06:08 +0000

JOHN VANBRUGH Buildings a stable block and a kitchen wing-each laid out around its own courtyard and each larger than many country houses. The style used by Vanbrugh for this enormous house was his own personal version of Baroque. In mainland Europe, Baroque buildings are often typified by a blend of intricately curving walls and highly ornate decoration that creates a feeling of lightness. Vanbrugh’s style, which he developed with his assistant, Nicholas Hawksmoor, is far more ponderous. Blenheim combines classical features, such as a large central portico, with heavy, elaborate details that are more Baroque in style-monumental arches, heavily

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Melk Abbey MONASTERY MELK, AUSTRIA

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:05:55 +0000

JAKOB PRANDTAUER From its elevated position on a rocky outcrop the great Benedictine abbey of Melk towers over the Danube in Lower Austria. Founded in the 11th century, it became renowned as a center of faith and learning, but by 1700 its buildings were no longer fit for the purpose, and the dynamic abbot, Berthold Dietmayr, commissioned the architect Jakob Prandtauer to redesign it. Prandtauer specialized in the baroque style, and he created a new church, accommodation, library, and other structures that transformed Melk into one of the largest and most elaborate baroque buildings in the world. Baroque architecture developed

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Palace of Versailles PARIS, FRANCE

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:05:47 +0000

LOUIS LE VAU & JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART One of the world’s largest and most magnificent palaces, Versailles was built for Louis XIV by two of the country’s most prominent architects, Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Built around Louis XIII’s hunting lodge, the palace expanded over several decades, taking the form of a grand central block and two flanking wings set around a central courtyard. The design and initial building was done by Le Vau, and Hardouin-Mansart extended the palace after 1678, when the royal court took up residence and Versailles became the seat of government. He added the huge north

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Neuschwanstein CASTLE BAVARIA, GERMANY

editor — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:05:39 +0000

EDUARD RIEDEL High on a crag near the village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria lies the fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein. It was built in the late 19th century for King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who had been inspired by visits to two ancient castles-the Wartburg in Germany and Pierrefonds in France-both reconstructed in the medieval style with massive walls, tall towers, and battlements, but furnished with palatial interiors. Ludwig was obsessed by medieval history and the operas of Richard Wagner-dramatic sagas of gods, heroes, and knights-and wanted a mock-medieval castle with interiors that reflected a bygone age of chivalry. The

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Chrysler Buildin OFFICE BLOCK NEW YORK CITY, USA

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 21:39:47 +0000

WILLIAM VAN ALEN The world’s tallest tower at the time it was built, the Chrysler Building-commissioned by Chrysler to be their headquarters-is one of the most strikingly theatrical skyscrapers ever constructed. The 1,047-ft (319-m), 77-story structure is planned on a grand scale, rising from a broad, substantial base and becoming progressively narrower through the slender main tower to the unique spire that tapers to a point. The detailing is even bolder than the overall design-a series of flourishes, culminating in the famous spire, that mark out the architect, William Van Alen, as a great showman who was determined to make

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Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre MUSEUM NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA, SOUTH PACIFIC

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:39:45 +0000

RENZO PIANO Ten tall, shell-like structures made of upright wooden staves rise up from the trees of the Tinu Peninsula on Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. This arresting complex is the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, which showcases the culture of the indigenous Kanak people and is named after the leader of the Kanak independence movement, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who was assassinated in 1989. The structures, often known by the French term, cases (huts), are the work of Italian architect Renzo Piano, who won a competition to design the Centre. By combining local building traditions with modern materials and

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Guggenheim Museum BILBAO, SPAIN

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:39:40 +0000

FRANK GEHRY The undulating, reflective forms of the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, make it one of the most famous buildings of recent decades. The museum was designed by California-based architect Frank Gehry, who insisted on situating it in the city’s run-down port area rather than on the downtown site originally proposed. Inspired by the scaly, shimmering forms of fish, Gehry created innovative architectural forms using a mix of straight, stone-covered walls and curving shapes clad in titanium over a steel frame. Appearing almost as if piled up at random and about to topple over, these dazzling structures were the result of

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National Gallery of Canada

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:39:36 +0000

1988 ART GALLERY OTTAWA, CANADA MOSHE SAFDIE When designing Canada’s National Gallery, architect Moshe Safdie took an approach that was radically different from that of most art gallery designs. The aim was not only to house the national art collection, library, and archives, but also to provide elegant facilities for special events. Safdie fulfilled this brief with an outstanding building of granite and glass that combines strong, graphic lines and glowing, crystal-like pavilions with a series of spacious galleries that display pictures and sculpture to their best advantage. The corner pavilions have generous interiors flooded with light, as do the

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Pompidou Centre ARTS CENTER PARIS, FRANCE

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:39:34 +0000

RICHARD ROGERS AND RENZO PIANO Located right in the heart of Paris, the Pompidou Centre houses the Musee National d’Art Moderne-one of the largest modern art collections in the world-and an extensive public library, and hosts a wide range of cultural activities. To create the maximum amount of interior space, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano designed a radical, high-tech structure in which all the services, from the water pipes to the escalators, were suspended on the exterior of the building, leaving the floors and walls inside uncluttered. Visually, the result of the architects’ decision to turn the building inside-out is

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Brasilia Cathedral

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:39:31 +0000

COMPLETED 1970 CATHEDRAL BRASILIA, BRAZIL OSCAR NIEMEYER Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, was built from scratch in the center of the country in the late 1950s. The principal planner was Lucio Costa, and the lead architect was Oscar Niemeyer, who designed not only many government buildings but also the cathedral in the city center. Niemeyer became a master in the use of concrete to produce sweeping sculptural designs, and the cathedral is an outstanding example. The cathedral is based on 16 identical concrete columns. Each column weighs 90 tons and stretches, in a flowing hyperboloid curve, from the ground to

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Fallin gwater HOUSE PENNSYLVANIA, USA

editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:39:28 +0000

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright created some of the most memorable and striking houses of the 20th century and Fallingwater, which he designed for Edgar Kaufmann, a wealthy department-store owner, is the most famous of them all. Built on a rock ledge right above a waterfall in the wooded countryside southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fallingwater features dramatic, jutting balconies and big expanses of glass. The way in which its stone walls and concrete balconies emerge from the woodland setting and appear to float above the mountain stream creates a unique marriage of architecture and site. Neither

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