AD Classics presents you with some of the greatest buildings of the past that have influenced and shaped architecture today. Throughout ArchDaily's 13 years, more than 200 classics were published, and for this edition, we have rounded up the top 20 most visited Architecture Classics to date.
London’s architectural history is a rich tapestry that weaves together styles of various periods and influences. In the post-war era, the city experienced a surge in modern architecture, becoming a canvas for experimentation. New stylistic movements saw their expression crystalized through buildings such as Richard Rogers’ Lloyd’s Building, one of the most representative examples of High-Tech architecture, or the Barbican Estate, a large-scale housing estate that became the iconic structure for Brutalist architecture.
London’s contemporary architectural landscape continues to evolve, in part through the works of internationally-recognized architects such as Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, and Thomas Heatherwick. This varied blend of styles, and ways of expression reflects the city’s ability to embrace architectural movements of global significance. As a center for innovation, London continues to attract established and emerging architects who shape its skyline and contribute to its international architectural discourse, with each new building offering a glimpse into the ever-changing nature of London’s urban fabric.
Museums reveal local and shared heritage. As cultural institutions embedded in the fabric of modern life, each museum serves as a window into history and human exchange. Made to promote understanding and provoke new ideas, these monumental buildings are inspired by spatial exploration. With some of the most influential museum projects in the world, Germany is home to a range of diverse institutions showcasing unique approaches to curating, taxonomy and spatial organization.
As Canada’s most populous location, Toronto has developed into a global powerhouse, both as an economic and cultural hub. This extends to the significant museums and arts facilities across Queen City. With one of the most unique landscapes and ground conditions in the country, Toronto was built on a large ravine system running throughout its urban fabric. Today, the city’s educational, arts, and cultural buildings are thriving.
Architect Daniel Libeskind has revealed plans to transform the Boerentoren tower, located in the center of Antwerp, Belgium, into a new public cultural center. The Art Deco tower will be extended to house exhibition spaces, a panoramic viewing platform, a rooftop sculpture garden, and new restaurants and bars. According to the architect, the original features of the historical building will be preserved, while its landmark status will be enhanced through this intervention. If the plans are approved by the Flemish master builder, heritage and urban planning authorities, and the fire service, the building is due to open in 2028.
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is celebrating its 25th anniversary this October 2022. Set on the edge of the Nervión River in the Basque Country, Spain, Frank Gehry's Guggenheim boosted the city's economy with its astounding success and changed the museum's role in city development. Twenty-five years on, the Bilbao Effect continues to challenge assumptions about urban transformations and inspires the construction of iconic pieces of architecture that uplift cities' status, calling investors and visitors.
Domenig was one of Austria’s most radical architects and a major influence on many of architecture’s leading lights but remains widely unknown. A new exhibition aims to change that.
The marquee-busting title says it all: Joseph Giovannini’s Architecture Unbound is an ambitious attempt to explore the wilder shores of design and explain how and why maverick architects have dared greatly. It’s also a wide-ranging introduction to artists who laid the groundwork for architectural innovation a century ago; to the philosophers and theorists who mapped new ways of thinking, and to the complexities of chaos theory, parametric and software programs that have shaped exceptional buildings over the past few decades.
Historic art movements and their visual characteristics have considerably paved the way for modern day architecture. For years, architects have been borrowing techniques and stylistic approaches to create their own architectural compositions, merging both disciplines together. Cubism, one of the most influential styles of the twentieth century, and heavily criticized for its experimentation with its non-representational art approach, is perhaps the most significant architecture inspiration. Just as the radical art movement rejected the then-rooted concept that art should mimic nature, architects found themselves following suit and designing structures that borrow Cubism’s avant-gardist features, creating buildings that, to this day, stand as iconic landmarks of the practice.
Polish-American architect, artist, professor, and set designer, Daniel Libeskind, founder of Studio Libeskind in 1989, believes that buildings are crafted with perceptible human energy, constructed with the intention to address the greater cultural context in which they are built. His commitment to expanding the scope of architecture reflects his profound interest and involvement in philosophy, art, literature, and music.
He addresses the notion of drawings being akin to a score, a piece of music that is interpreted by a like-minded community. Proportions, light, and materiality are all implicated in the drawing, and in this same way, buildings are also called to present space, atmosphere, and illuminate the practice.
As far as history goes back, art and architecture have always been interrelated disciplines. From the elaboration of the Baroque movement, to the geometric framework of modernism, architects found inspiration from stylistic approaches, techniques, and concepts of historic art movements, and translated them into large-scale habitable structures. In this article, we explore 5 of many art movements that paved the way for modern day architecture, looking into how architects borrowed from their characteristics and approaches to design to create their very own architectural compositions.
Daniel Libeskind and inLodz21 Institution are designing Nexus21, an urban revitalization project of 21 structures that vary between residential and commercial buildings to urban spaces. The new cultural hub is located in particular neighborhoods to promote the creativity and innovation that lies in the city, such as architecture, textiles, fashion, and film, which are all part of its heritage. The master plan will also work on the spaces in between the revived structures, creating a vibrant nexus between the old and the new, while adding value to the historic neighborhoods of Łódź, Poland.
Architecture for Change (ARCH), a newly launched nonprofit initiative dedicated to addressing systemic racism in the architecture and design industry, is kicking off with an online auction featuring donated works—sketches, models, plans, photographic prints, and more—from a host of notable architects including Sir David Adjaye, Daniel Libeskind, Michel Rojkind, David Rockwell, Jennifer Bonner, Trey Trahan, and others.
Architects, not Architecture decided to open their archive to help us cope with the current situation of not being able to go out as usual and create a source of inspiration and entertainment through sharing one of the unique talks from their previous 35 events, which have never been published before – including, Tatiana Bilbao, Peter Cook, Richard Rogers, Massimiliano Fuksas, Kim Herforth Nielsen, Ben van Berkel, Benedetta Tagliabue, Anupama Kundoo, Sadie Morgan, Dan Stubbergaard, Manuelle Gautrand and Kjetil Thorsen.
Every week, Archdaily will be sharing one of the Architects, not Architecture. talks which they are currently publishing online in the form of daily full-length video uploads as part of their “new event”: Home Edition 2020 (www.architectsnotarchitecture.com).
Originally published in Metropolis Magazine as "Inside the Homes and Workspaces of 8 Great Architects", this article shows the spaces occupied by some of the best-known architects in the world. Documented for an exhibition that will be featured at the Milan Design Week 2014, the images give a glimpse inside the private worlds of some of our favorite designers.
It's a cliche that architects have messy workspaces. From chaos comes creation, so the phrase goes. But an upcoming exhibition at this year's Salone del Mobile intends to dispel the myth. Studio Mumbai.
Curator Francesca Molteni interviewed each of the designers in their private homes and came away with one finding: architects are actually quite tidy. The studios are all pristinely ordered; books are neatly stowed away, figurines and objets astutely displayed, and table tops swept clean. The photographs below are part of the exhibition materials, produced with the help of scenographer Davide Pizzigoni, which faithfully document the physical environments in images, video, and audio. These will be used to recreate the architects’ “rooms” at Salone del Mobile in April.
Where Architects Live is not limited to satisfying our curiosity about what these architects’ homes look like. Richard Rogers’ affirmation that “a room is the beginning of a city” resonates with the project’s aim in trying to articulate its subjects’ personal tastes and obsessions, and how those are reflected in their architectural work.
Read on to see more images of the inside of architects' homes and studios
With no shortage of historical buildings in need of expansion or repurposing, alterations of older architecture via contemporary interventions have flourished in the past four decades – particularly in service of new or growing art museums. These spaces represent the resilience of our historical legacy through contemporary times, demonstrating that the combination even of two vastly different architectural styles can be both beautiful and impressive. Here are ten of the best examples of contemporary interventions on historical buildings in art museums around the world.
Daniel Libeskind has collaborated with photographer Caryl Englander and curator Henri Lustiger Thaler from the Amud Aish Memorial Museum to present a temporary exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. “Through the Lens of Faith” opens on July 1st, 2019, marking the 75th anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation in 1945.
.jpg?1570002957 "La Muralla Roja / Ricardo Bofill. Image Courtesy of Ricardo Bofill")
