Architects and Their Masterpieces

An architect designs homes, libraries, museums and other structures or environments. Here are some famous modern architects and their signature creations.

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) Fuller was also an engineer and a poet. He was known for his revolutionary designs that were both innovative and efficient. He developed the Dymaxion principle, which called for producing the maximum while using the least possible amount of material and energy. His most famous creation was the geodesic dome.

Frank Gehry (b. 1929) Many of Gehry's designs are oddly shaped and made from a variety of materials, such as corrugated metal and chain-link fencing. His best-known project is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Michael Graves (b. 1934) Graves is known for his postmodernist, often colorful projects. Postmodernism is a playful style of art and architecture that was developed after 1970. He also designs furniture and home accessories. Graves designed the Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank, California.

Maya Lin (b. 1959) Lin earned fame when, as a student at Yale, she won a contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. She also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

I. M. Pei (b. 1917) Pei, who was born in China and educated in the United States, has designed landmarks all over the world. He frequently incorporates marble, concrete and glass into his geometrically precise designs. Some of his most famous designs include the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, the expansion of the Louvre in Paris and the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) Wright is widely considered the greatest American architect. He developed the prairie style of architecture in Chicago. The prairie style features low horizontal lines, earth-tone colors and protruding overhangs. Although he mostly designed homes and furniture, Wright also designed the Oak Park Unity Temple near Chicago and the Larkin Office Building in Buffalo, New York.

Architectural Quotes

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.” - Philip Johnson



"Architecture is the reaching out for the truth." - Louis Kahn



"To be modern is not a fashion, it is a state. It is necessary to understand history, and he who understands history knows how to find continuity between that which was, that which is, and that which will be." - Le Corbusier



"Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union." - Frank Lloyd Wright



"Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness." - Frank Gehry



"We should work for simple, good, undecorated things... ...but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street." - Alvar Aalto



"Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light." - Le Corbusier

Frank Gehry's architectural designs in Lehi to be unveiled in August.

The public will finally be able to see what the much-anticipated Frank Gehry-designed project in Lehi will resemble when the famed American architect's artistic renderings are unveiled in early August.

"The designs will show what the hotel looks like, what the (10,000-seat) arena will look like, how retail plays in, and what some of the homes will look like," Provo entrepreneur and owner Brandt Andersen told the Daily Herald on Tuesday.

Public interest in the multi-billion-dollar mixed-use project, which showcases what is potentially Utah's tallest building -- a 450-foot tall hotel -- has been strong since it was first announced last February because of Gehry's involvement. Gehry is the creative genius behind architectural icons like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

An unexpected discovery of thermal water beneath the 80-acre site, in addition to ample wind and solar energy sources, provided the inspiration for an architectural design with a new "green" emphasis, Andersen said. About 30 percent of the project could be fueled by green energy, he said.

Inspired by the natural architecture found in Utah's slot canyons such as The Narrows at Zion National Park, the Lehi project will include the 250-room hotel; a signature 500,000-square-foot, 10,000-seat arena; an amphitheater; 3.6 million square feet of residential space or 2,500 condo and multi-floor residential units, and 1.12 million square feet of retail space. The project also includes a boating lake, a wakeboard cable water park and 61 acres of open space.

"Pending final approvals by the city, we will also disclose some letters of intent from national and local tenants for the project by the end of summer. Retail interest is strong because they know of Frank's involvement, the specialized nature of the project and its proximity to the ski resorts," Andersen said.

Once the final project approvals are given this summer, construction will begin on the hotel, the arena as well as the two wakeboarding lakes, Andersen said.

As a precursor of the Gehry project, Andersen, also the owner of Utah Flash, will also be remodelling the Open Court, an 80,000 square foot recreational center in Lehi that he bought a month ago to be the new headquarters of the NBA affiliate. The building, which cost between $5 million and $10 million, will be renamed The Factory and will resemble what he called a "postmodern luminescent cube."

The Factory, located on 4425 N. Thanksgiving Way in Lehi, will also be used as a practice space by the Utah Flash, and will host community basketball camps.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art located on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota has been a teaching museum for the university since 1934. The museum's current building, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, was completed in 1993.

It is one of the major landmarks on campus, situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River at the east end of the Washington Avenue Bridge. The building presents two faces, depending on which side it is viewed from. From the campus side, it presents a brick facade that blends with the existing brick and sandstone buildings. On the opposite side, the museum is a playground of curving and angular sandblaster steel sheets.

The most stunning views of the building are from the pedestrian and highway decks of the adjacent bridge. Some locals critical of the radical architectural style frequently point out that the building's design could unexpectedly reflect the light of the sun into the eyes of motorists on the bridge. Studies commissioned by MNDOT have found that the museum is not hazardous to motorists.

Often called a "modern art museum," the 20,000+ image collection has large collections of Marsden Hartley, Alfred Maurer, Charles Biederman, Native American Mimbres culture pottery, and Korean furniture.

BP Bridge

BP Bridge is a 925-foot long and winding pedestrian bridge, designed by Architect is the world renowned Frank Gehry, who also designed the Pritzker Pavilion as shown in the first image.

The pedestrian bridge connects two parks, The Millennium park and the Daley Bicentennial Plaza, It gives visual continuity to the Pritzker Pavilion and also works as an acoustic barrier to the noise coming from the traffic for the musical performances here.

Millennium Park is a prominent civic center of the City of Chicago in Illinois and an important landmark of the city's lakefront. A redeveloped section of Grant Park, the 24.5 acre (101,000 m²) landmark is bounded by Michigan Avenue and its Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District, East Randolph Street, Columbus Drive and East Monroe Drive.

It was Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley's ambitious idea to realize that which was originally designed as part of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago, a plan for the future of Chicago created in 1909. It is historically the site of the Chicago Cubs' (then known as the White Stockings) first home field in 1871, Union Base-Ball Grounds.