Michelangelo

Although known today more for his painting and sculpture, Michelangelo was also a master architect. In
fact, he was among the first to depart from the classical style and defy traditional expectations.

In 1523, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to design a two-story library on top of an existing
convent. Michelangelo employed radical principles to his design of Florence, Italy's Laurentian Library,
breaking rules of the classical style. For instance, he took practical elements, like brackets traditionally
used as supportive structures, and uses them merely for ornamentation.

Michelangelo's most famous contribution to architecture is probably the dome of St. Peter's Basilica of
Vatican City. It stands as one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world and inspired many
imitators, such as the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. However, the dome itself was not completed
before Michelangelo died. Scholars still debate on how much the ultimate construction deviates from
Michelangelo's plans.

Imhotep

Imhotep, who lived sometime between 2667 B.C.E. and 2648 B.C.E. Although he was born a commoner,
Imhotep rose to become chief architect to Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and is known as
the first architect, among other distinctions. Imhotep is credited with designing the pharaoh's tomb, the
Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The world's first pyramid, according to Discovering Egypt, it consisted of
multiple mastabas (flat-roofed structures with sloping sides that had been the traditional pharaoh burial
structures) one stacked atop the next becoming smaller each time. The result is a 204-foot-tall (62
meters) step structure surrounded by a massive complex that overlooked Memphis, the ancient capital.
The tomb lies below the pyramid.

To create the Step Pyramid, Imhotep invented new tools and equipment. While earlier mastabas had
been made of clay brick, Imhotep used stone blocks, and the exterior was covered in limestone.
Imhotep's design influenced subsequent burial structures, culminating in the later pyramids like Great
Pyramid of Giza. Thanks to his ingenuity, Imhotep, who was also recognized as a healer, was later
deified, worshipped in Memphis and later by the Greeks, who associated him with Asclepius, their god
of medicine.

Arata Isozaki

1
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Architecture

16 of the Most Famous Architects Who Ever Lived

By: Jane McGrath & Carrie Whitney, Ph.D. | Updated: Jul 21, 2021

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the landmark Guggenheim Museum in New York City,
which continues to attract visitors from around the world since it was built in 1939. ANGELO
HORNAK/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Frank Lloyd Wright said, "The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no
soul of our own civilization." Indeed, buildings are both a practical necessity and an artistic expression of
a culture. Architects make civilization not only possible, but also beautiful.

We'll explore some of history's most famous architects, (in no particular order of greatness). Some are
known for their iconic works or lasting influence, while others shook the world with their innovative
styles. We'll start with a true Renaissance man who had incredible influence for someone who came to
architecture late in life.

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Contents

Michelangelo

Mimar Sinan

Imhotep

Sir Christopher Wren

Louis Henry Sullivan

Le Corbusier

Antoni Gaudi

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ieoh Ming Pei

Norman Foster

Arata Isozaki

Eero Saarinen

Dame Zaha Hadid

Frank Gehry

Sir David Adjaye

Frank Lloyd Wright

16. Michelangelo

St. Peters Basilica

Michelangelo is most known for his art, but he was also a prolific architect. His most famous
contribution is probably the dome of St. Peter's Basilica of Vatican City. LAURIE CHAMBERLAIN/GETTY
IMAGES

Although known today more for his painting and sculpture, Michelangelo was also a master architect. In
fact, he was among the first to depart from the classical style and defy traditional expectations.

In 1523, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to design a two-story library on top of an existing
convent. Michelangelo employed radical principles to his design of Florence, Italy's Laurentian Library,
breaking rules of the classical style. For instance, he took practical elements, like brackets traditionally
used as supportive structures, and uses them merely for ornamentation.

Advertisement
Michelangelo's most famous contribution to architecture is probably the dome of St. Peter's Basilica of
Vatican City. It stands as one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world and inspired many
imitators, such as the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. However, the dome itself was not completed
before Michelangelo died. Scholars still debate on how much the ultimate construction deviates from
Michelangelo's plans.

15. Mimar Sinan

The Selimiye Mosque

The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, Turkey, was designed and built by Mimar Sinan in 1575. Today is it listed
on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. FGORGUN/GETTY IMAGES

Michelangelo's contemporary in the Ottoman Empire was Mimar Sinan. Working in the 16th century,
Sinan designed more than 300 structures, including mostly mosques but also palaces, schools and other
buildings. Unquestionably the most influential Turkish architect in history, Sinan perfected the design of
the domed mosque, which was an important symbol of both political power and the Islamic faith in the
Ottoman Empire.

Although born Christian, Sinan was drafted into the Janissary Corps and converted to Islam. After quickly
rising in the ranks to chief of the artillery, he first displayed his talent in architecture by designing
fortifications and bridges. He became Chief of the Imperial Architects in 1538 and began building
mosques.

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His masterpieces include the Edirne Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, Turkey, as well as the Süleymaniye
Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

14. Imhotep

Saqqara

The step pyramid at Saqqara, south of Cairo, designed by Imhotep, is Egypt's first pyramid. SHANNA
BAKER/GETTY IMAGES
But before Michaelangelo and Mimar Sinan there was Imhotep, who lived who lived sometime between
2667 B.C.E. and 2648 B.C.E. Although he was born a commoner, Imhotep rose to become chief architect
to Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and is known as the first architect, among other
distinctions. Imhotep is credited with designing the pharaoh's tomb, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The
world's first pyramid, according to Discovering Egypt, it consisted of multiple mastabas (flat-roofed
structures with sloping sides that had been the traditional pharaoh burial structures) one stacked atop
the next becoming smaller each time. The result is a 204-foot-tall (62 meters) step structure surrounded
by a massive complex that overlooked Memphis, the ancient capital. The tomb lies below the pyramid.

To create the Step Pyramid, Imhotep invented new tools and equipment. While earlier mastabas had
been made of clay brick, Imhotep used stone blocks, and the exterior was covered in limestone.
Imhotep's design influenced subsequent burial structures, culminating in the later pyramids like Great
Pyramid of Giza. Thanks to his ingenuity, Imhotep, who was also recognized as a healer, was later
deified, worshipped in Memphis and later by the Greeks, who associated him with Asclepius, their god
of medicine.

Advertisement

13. Sir Christopher Wren

Royal naval college greenwich

Sir Christopher Wren was appointed surveyor of royal works in 1669, which led to him designing the
Greenwich Hospital, which later became the Royal Naval College (seen here), and the façade of
Hampton Court Palace, both in London, among many other government buildings. IMAGE
SOURCE/GETTY IMAGES

Under normal circumstances, Sir Christopher Wren would probably be known as a great architect, but
he might not have gone down in history as among the most famous architects that ever lived. As it
happened, however, Wren was in the right place at the right time, and he possessed the right talent.

Wren was a professor of astronomy at Oxford who came to architecture though his interest in physics
and engineering. In the 1660s, he was commissioned to design the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford and
visited Paris to study French and Italian baroque styles. In 1666, Wren had completed a design for the
dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. One week after it was accepted, however, the Great Fire of
London raged through the city, destroying most of it — including the cathedral.
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The Great Fire created an unexpected opportunity for Wren, and he was soon at work on
reconstruction. Although plans for a sweeping reconstruction of the city soon proved too difficult, by
1669, Wren was appointed surveyor of royal works, which put him in charge of government building
projects. Ultimately, he had his hand in designing 51 churches, as well as St. Paul's Cathedral. Other
famous buildings designed by Wren included the Greenwich Hospital, which later became the Royal
Naval College, and the façade of Hampton Court Palace, both in London.

12. Louis Henry Sullivan

Guaranty Building

The Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, is considered one of the first skyscrapers and one of Louis
Henry Sullivan most famous works. WIKIMEDIA/(CC BY-SA 3.0)

Known for the principle of "form follows function," Louis Henry Sullivan was anxious to break free from
tradition and became influential in forging a distinctly American architecture. Similar to Sir Christopher
Wren, Sullivan benefited from a great fire. The Great Fire of 1871 in Chicago resulted in a construction
boom and afforded architects like Sullivan with work for the decades to come. As a young man, he
worked briefly in the offices of famed architects Frank Furness and then William Le Baron Jenney. He
was only 24 years old when he became a partner in Dankmar Adler's firm in 1881.

As other architects like Jenney started implementing steel to allow for taller structures, the skyscraper
was born. Sullivan was instrumental in creating a new functional design for these new, tall buildings
rather than sticking with outmoded traditions. Because of this, some refer to Sullivan as the "Father of
the Skyscraper" (though others ascribe this title to Jenney). Sullivan's designs also incorporated both
geometric shapes and organic elements. Although most of his work was done in Chicago, his most
famous work is the 10-story Wainwright Building in St. Louis, built in 1890, and the 16-story Guaranty
Building in Buffalo, built in 1894.

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11. Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier

Villa Savoye is a modernist villa in Poissy, near Paris, France. It was designed by Le Corbusier and his
cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and built between 1928 and 1931 using reinforced concrete. WIKIMEDIA/(CC
BY-SA 3.0)

A Swiss-French architect born in 1887, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret made some of the most significant
contributions to architecture in the 20th century. He and the painter Amédée Ozenfant began the
publication "L'Esprit Nouveau" in 1920 and wrote under pseudonyms. Jeanneret chose a name from his
family lineage: Le Corbusier.

Le Corbusier embraced functionalism, rejecting excessive nonstructural ornamentation, and favored the
modern materials of concrete and steel in his structures. He was particularly well-known for his houses
and would become a major figure in the developing the International Style of architecture.

Le Corbusier's designs used free-flowing floor plans, as well as column support that allowed for walls
that could be placed independent of the structure. He placed his buildings on stilts, partly because he
believed this to be conducive to a hygienic lifestyle. And finally, his buildings incorporated flat roofs that
could accommodate gardens. He described a house as "a machine for living in." Le Corbusier attained
several patents during his life, including one for his characteristic horizontal sliding windows that would
take up the length of a building.

10. Antoni Gaudi

Sagrada Familia

The church Sagrada Familia is by far Antoni Gaudis' most famous work. It is still under construction and
likely to be completed in 2026. STEFAN CRISTIAN CIOATA/GETTY IMAGES

Fueled by a faith in God and a love of nature, the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi developed a style all his
own. Born in 1852 in the Catalonia region of Spain, Gaudi was a fervent Catholic who believed that he
could glorify God by deriving his inspiration from nature, God's creation.

Taking his cues from nature, then, Gaudi favored curves rather than straight lines, varied textures and
vibrant colors. His unique and somewhat bizarre style was part neo-Gothic, part avant-garde, part
surrealistic. The architect and his work soon became synonymous with the city of Barcelona. However,
in the 1920s and '30s, the architectural world favored International Style, which starkly contrasted
Gaudi's philosophies. So it wasn't until the 1960s that Gaudi started gaining wide recognition.

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The Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona stands as his most famous work. However, the
cathedral was unfinished at his death in 1926 and, although work continued, the cathedral remains
unfinished to this day.

9. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Barcelona Pavilion

The Barcelona Pavilion is characteristic of the Modern Movement and was designed by Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe and Lilly Reich as the German national pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition.
WIKIMEDIA/(CC BY-SA 3.0)

Born in Germany in 1886, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (commonly known by his surname, Mies) was one
of the many modern architects to make the transition from the more ornate, traditional styles of the
19th century to the sleek, minimalist styles of the 20th century. After quickly establishing his reputation
in residential work in his home country, he was chosen to design the German Pavilion for the 1929
International Exposition in Barcelona. He is also known for designing Barcelona chairs, cantilevered
chairs with steel frames. In 1937, however, Mies moved to the United States, where he served as
longtime director of (and designed the campus for) the School of Architecture at Chicago's Armour
Institute.

While in the United States, Mies designed many well-known skyscrapers, including the Seagram Building
in New York City and the Lake Shore Drive apartments in Chicago. As he sought to reflect the Industrial
Age in his building designs, he often featured exposed structural steel. And always emphasizing that
"less is more," his designs display simplicity and elegance without excessive ornamentation.

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8. Ieoh Ming Pei

East Building, National Gallery of Art

I.M. Pei is perhaps best known for his glass pyramid structure at the Louvre in Paris, but he also designed
the East Building at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (seen here). DEAGOSTINI/GETTY
IMAGES

Born in 1917 in China, Ieoh Ming Pei (better known as I.M. Pei) came to the United States in the 1930s to
study architecture. However, by the time he graduated, he wasn't able to return to China due to the
outbreak of World War II. Instead, he stayed in the United States, eventually becoming a citizen in 1954.

In his work, Pei strove to bring together the modern and traditional — what he called the "impossible
dream." Pei's designs are considered a continuation of the International Style popularized by architects
like Le Corbusier. However, Pei's also known for brutalism, an offshoot of the International Style that
uses bold forms and utilitarian principles. For instance, Pei's large, rectangular concrete blocks, like
those used for his National Center for Atmospheric Research, completed in 1967, clearly shows
influences of brutalism.

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In the 1960s, Pei was selected to design the terminal at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, and
he gained national recognition in 1974 when he designed the National Gallery of Art East Building in
Washington, D.C. He is perhaps best known for the controversial glass pyramid structure in the
courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris, built in 1989.

7. Norman Foster

London City Hall

Norman Foster was behind the bulb-like design of London City Hall, which sits on the bank of the
Thames River beside Tower Bridge. THOMAS POLLIN/FLICKR VISION/GETTY IMAGES

When he became the 1999 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Sir Norman Foster had not yet
even completed some of his most iconic buildings. He was born in Manchester, England, in 1935 and
studied at the University of Manchester and Yale University, where he earned a master's degree in
architecture. Before launching his firm Foster + Partners in 1967, he worked with Richard and Su Rogers,
as well as his wife Wendy Foster, at the firm they founded together, Team 4.

He founded Foster + Partners in 1967, earning acclaim and recognition worldwide. Since that time, the
firm has completed a variety of projects, including airports, cultural buildings, private homes and
product designs, while earning more than 400 awards. Foster + Partners has buildings around the world,
like the 1985 HSBC project in Shanghai that features feng shui-balancing cement canons on the roof, and
one of the world's tallest bridges, the Millau Viaduct in Southern France that Foster designed with
engineer Michel Virlogeux. But visitors to London may be most familiar with his local projects like the
Great Court of the British Museum, the Millennium Bridge, London City Hall and The Gherkin.

6. Arata Isozaki

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki was born in Kyushu in 1931. He was influenced by the destruction he
saw during World War II and studied architecture at the University of Tokyo with an interest in
rebuilding damaged cities. After apprenticing under Tange Kenzō, Isozaki opened a design studio in 1963
and theorized "an aesthetic to give form to the concept of obliteration, which he labeled 'twilight
gloom,'" according to the Museum of Modern Art. The Metabolist movement, which combined
technology and utilitarianism, influenced his early work, such as the 1966 Ōita Prefectural Library.
Varying his approach, he created many additional innovative structures, earning his first international
commission in 1986, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

During the next several decades, Isozaki's international projects included Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona;
the Team Disney Building in Orlando, Florida; the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha; the
Shanghai Symphony Hall in China and many more. His projects total more than 100, and for his
significant contribution to the field, he was named 2019 Laureate of the

Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson, a Harvard graduate born in 1906, helped bring Le Corbusier's high-rise, concrete-heavy
style over to America. Whether it be steel monoliths or glass megaliths, the International Style arrived in
North America in a big way, in large part thanks to Johnson.

A big portion of Johnson's success and influence, however, also lay in his eventual return to more
traditional architectural motifs. It had become somewhat of an anathema for architects to adhere to the
tried-and-true classics of design, but he helped pave the path back to traditional looks with projects like
the AT&T corporate headquarters in New York City. That building embraced both function and fanciness,
the latter an aspect that had been ignored -- or at least overshadowed -- for quite some time.