4 Of The World's Top Architects And Their CreationsBy Kenny Slaught

Image courtesy of Wally Gobetz at Flickr.com

The work of architects as it happens with many artists, is their legacy. Buildings and cathedrals will hopefully pass the test of time for many years to come and grace the skyline of cities that will forever be engraved with the architect’s unique signature.

Sometimes we stand in awe before a building and wonder in amazement how it came to be, but rarely think of the brilliant minds who made it possible.

Here we have some information about a few of the world’s greatest architects and their amazing creations.

Frank Gehry

Frank Owen Gehry is a Canadian-American architect, living in Los Angeles. Even his personal private residence has become a world-renowned attraction while his creations are responsible for dubbing him "the most important architect of our age" according to the 2010 World Architecture Survey by Vanity Fair.

His work can be seen in some of the most important cities throughout the world. Some of his most remarkable architecture includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France; MIT Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles; The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies on the University of Cincinnati campus; Experience Music Project in Seattle; New World Center in Miami Beach; Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis; Dancing House in Prague; the Vitra Design Museum and the museum MARTa Herford in Germany; the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; the Cinémathèque française in Paris; and 8 Spruce Street in New York City.

Gehry began his academic career at Los Angeles City College, and from there he moved on to the University of Southern California's School of Architecture where he eventually graduated.

Frank Gehry’s style notes influence of early modern art transformed with a contemporary touch of abstraction and utilization of non-traditional materials with elegant purposes. The cure and seemingly unfinished look of his work is characteristic of Californian art movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Widely considered one of the greatest architects of all times, Frank Lloyd Wright is known for his innovative design and intelligent spatial management that showed a man who was way ahead of his time. One of the most striking features of his work, was the never-ending search to create structures that were in constant balance with their surroundings, a practice of harmony between the environment and humanity.

Image courtesy of thegoatisbad at Flickr.com

Wright was a man with no formal architectural education who never graduated from high school or college officially. He held a job in Chicago as a draftsman but left disheartened by the low salary and the inability he had to expand his work to his liking. After landing a few jobs with other firms, he was eventually admitted as an apprentice under the legendary Louis Sullivan.

His most remarkable projects include: The Guggenheim Museum in New York City, New York, Fallingwater Residence in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, Arizona State University Gammage Auditorium & Taliesin West – Wright’s home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid was the first woman architect who ever won the Pritzker Architecture prize, receiving it in 2004. She was also awarded the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 2015 she became the first woman to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal. Born in Iraq in 1950, her work is characterized as futuristic, unconventional, daring and artistic.

Zaha Hadid taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she held the Kenzo Tange Professorship, and at the Architectural Association and also in the 1990s, she held the Sullivan Chair professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Architecture. She was named an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects. She was on the board of trustees of The Architecture Foundation.

Even though most of her designs were never built, her most renowned projects are: MAXXI – the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts the Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza, Bergisel Ski Jump in Innsbruck, Phaeno Science Center and the Opera House in Guangzhou.

Tom Wright

The amazing thing about Tom Wright is the fact that he is noted today as one of the greatest architects of our time with only one building of great renown to his name. The Burj Al Arab in Dubai is not only an amazing hotel acclaimed for its luxurious amenities, but also a building that became synonymous with the place, as the Sydney Opera House is with Sydney and the Eiffel Tower is with Paris. One cannot think of Dubai without seeing the signature of Tom Wright drawn over the beautiful horizon that accentuates his majestic creation.