The 10 Most Creative People in Architecture | Design & Innovation

The 10 Most Creative People in Architecture | Design & Innovation | Fast Company

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The 10 Most Creative People in Architecture

BY CLIFF KUANG Tue Jun 9, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Which architects have the most unusual, influential visions for the field?

1. Will Alsop, ALSOP Architects Few architects have been so dedicated to such an unusual design aesthetic as maximalist Will Alsop. And fewer still have been as successful at building their designs. His nearly completed "Chips" building was inspired by piled french fries; his extension for the Ontario College of Art and Design is one of the strangest, most exciting buildings in recent memory:

2. Yansong Ma, MAD architects Chinese architecture has often lived in the shadow of the west--copying its ideas, importing its talent. MAD is changing that, and representing the avant-garde of a new generation of homegrown Chinese talent. Here's their design for the China's Erdos Museum, which is currently nearing completion:

3. Minsuk Cho and Kisu Park, MASS Studies MASS Studies is South Korea's own locally produced, internationally recognized success story. Working at a variety of scales-- from city plans to galleries and boutiques--they've distinguished themselves with a refinement that's rare in go-go Asian

architecture. Here's their design for the Korean Pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai Expo, which integrates the Korean alphabet into its structure:

4. Rem Koolhaas, OMA You can't talk about contemporary avant-garde architecture without mentioning Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture, which introduced a rigor--and weirdness--to design; they've always been at the forefront of pondering what design can be, and how it fits in modern society. The firm's crowning glory is, of course, the CCTV tower in Beijing, set to open soon (current construction photo here):

5. Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries, MVRDV MVRDV--whose name is an acronym for the founding members--made its name with wacky ideas, like a high-rise pig farm. But they've since matured into an astonishingly elegant style. Here's their "Book Mountain" project, which just broke ground. The entire building turns the books into a structural, symbolic element:

6. Shigeru Ban, Shigeru Ban Architects Ban is a genius with unconventional materials. For many year's, he's created architecture using paper; he made his name with a house whose facade was simply a massive, billowing curtain. Here's his design for the Centre Pompidou Metz, which is inspired by the shape of a Chinese farmer's hat:

7. Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Mueron, Herzog & De Meuron The duo made their names introducing surface decoration into modern architecture--which used to be taboo, thanks to stern modernists like Mies van der Rohe. They made international headlines with their "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium. But they've always been hard to pin down. Here's their design for the CaixaForum arts center in Madrid, which was built upon the walls of an old power station:

8. Thom Mayne, Morphosis Architects Thom Mayne made his name with aggressive, hyper-angular buildings. But his designs show more range than that. Here's his sinuous design for the Phare Tower, set to rise above Paris's La Defense business district, with groundbreaking to begin in 2010:

9. Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects Oh, Zaha. You design hideous, insanely expensive furniture, but still, we can't quit you because no one has been as successful making such an unabashedly futuristic vision of architecture into reality. Here's her just-unveiled design for a business district in Cairo:

10. Norman Foster, Foster + Partners And who could forget Lord Foster, the man who parlayed high-tech architecture into a design firm with dozens of projects, with

budgets ranging into the billions, all across the world. The firm has never had anything less than a masterful stroke with building logic and cutting-edge technical innovations. Here's their design for Terminal 3 of the Beijing International Airport, completed last year, which is easily the biggest, most technically advanced building in the world:

Read all about the The 100 Most Creative People In Business

Related Stories: Topics: Can a Building Make You Happy? Public Toilets That Aren't Crappy Design, architecture, most creative people, Will Alsop, Herzog & de Meuron, Sigeru Ban, MASS Studies, MAD architects, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Thom Mayne, MVRDV, Innovation, Technology, Will

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Recent Comments | 13 Total

June 11, 2009 at 11:39am by Hossein Fahimi these are nice , how do you think? lets buy one of them . we can have fun in one of these

June 13, 2009 at 8:46am by Zane O'Donnell most creative architects

June 14, 2009 at 4:51am by Bob Jacobson I don't see any classic architecture here. Just a great deal of self-indulgence. How will these buildings work for the

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/10-most-creative-people-architecture[04.01.2010 09:28:00] The 10 Most Creative People in Architecture | Design & Innovation | Fast Company people inside of them and on the street? I wager most if not all will be passed over by future students of architecture. It's unfair to measure an architect's "creativity" on the basis of a single building, of course. But it's a simply stunning statement of what FC is at these days that none of these architects, to my knowledge, has a reputation for sustainable design and construction. Au contraire. Old School thinking.

June 14, 2009 at 3:30pm by Hammad Husain Some of the projects are interesting and creative to look at. But is architecture to be judged only visually through flashy images or does it need to be experienced for one to judge it?

Conceptually, the above buildings look very pleasing and catchy, architecturally, I'd put a question mark on some, including Zaha Hadid's design.

June 19, 2009 at 3:27pm by Maison Orion The title should really be most creative architecture firms, along with creative engineers. I think

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/10-most-creative-people-architecture[04.01.2010 09:28:00] The 10 Most Creative People in Architecture | Design & Innovation | Fast Company any complaint against the architects based on an appeal to the occupants of the people on the street is unfair. No building I've ever designed did not involve the input of the the owners or the staff of the project. As well, I don't know what sustainable architecture is supposed to look like, so without seeing the energy analysis of each building it is wrong to assume they were not designed efficiently. At any rate, many of these architects have done green buildings. Morphosis, Foster, OMA and Shigeru Ban all have energy efficient projects. A final pronouncement of Most Creative has to be looked at within the context of the issues each one of these architects has been pursuing over the long term of their career, in various locations and for various building types. It is a subjective definition of creative, but pulled from a list that also would cover the ten most famous architects with the most media saturation.

June 30, 2009 at 3:03pm by Marina Mescheriakova Talanted people

July 18, 2009 at 5:11pm by Lee Hopkinson Incredible creativity...

July 18, 2009 at 7:02pm by Artie Fufkin "It is better to be good than original". who said that anyway?

August 26, 2009 at 1:29am by nina nina Unbelievable that such buildings can be built! They really deserve a lifetime reward. So cool... classifieds |employment |for sale by owner

August 28, 2009 at 8:12pm by Jack gibbs Rem's design is so fabulous. Others also did a really good Job.

Jack | Mobile Phones

August 28, 2009 at 8:12pm by Jack gibbs Rem's design is so fabulous. Others also did a really good Job too

Jack | Mobile Phones

November 26, 2009 at 9:18pm by Juanito Martinez

Is Nice

December 11, 2009 at 2:13pm by Doc Johnson I think these non-classical designs offer inspiration to many people in and out of the field.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/10-most-creative-people-architecture[04.01.2010 09:28:00]