The 10 Most Creative

People
in Architecture
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 building
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 Museum, which is currently nearing completion:
3. Insuk 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:
Thank you