五位当今世界最著名的现代建筑大师
五位给现代建筑重新定义的建筑设计师
今天，我们向你介绍五位被广泛认为是当今世界顶尖的建筑设计师，他们是罗伯特.文丘里、弗兰克.杰里、塔道.安道、扎哈.哈迪德和丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德，他们都以不同的方式为现代建筑创造了重要的范例，你可以在全世界的现代建筑设计里看到他们那充满活力、充满想象力的建筑。
自二十世纪六十年代以来，美国建筑师罗伯特.文丘里的著作和他的建筑为我们重新定义现代建筑找到了一条途径，位于宾夕法尼亚州费城的凡娜.文丘里住房就是他早期重要的作品之一。1962年，文丘里为他的母亲设计了这座房子，他曾经说过，这座房子非常复杂且相互矛盾，例如，这座房子很小，但这座房子通过大量的细节表现，使得这座房子看起来显得很大，而且，这座现代建筑同时也包含传统建筑的元素。
在他的建筑和他的著作中，罗伯特.文丘里呼吁这样一种现代建筑，这种现代建筑既能表现历史的影响，同时也能包含现代通俗的文化，他反对那种将各种风格混合在一起的十足的现代建筑设计。他的著作掀起了一场现在称之为的后现代派潮流。
他的建筑还包括英国伦敦的国家艺术走廊新扩建的部分，文丘里按照非常现代的模式来设计这座大型的建筑，这座博物馆位于伦敦特拉法尔广场，它是十九世纪主要建筑。他的其他的博物馆工程包括加州圣迭哥的当代艺术博物馆和位于华盛顿的西雅图艺术博物馆。文丘里还给许多美国大学设计，包括哈佛大学和宾夕法尼亚大学。
弗兰克.杰里生长在加拿大，在他儿童时期，他就用小木片来搭建小房子。在1947年，他们家搬到了美国，在美国，杰里开始上大学，他学的就是建筑学。弗兰克.杰里认为建筑是一门艺术，他曾经说，在某些方面，他受到了艺术家和雕刻家的影响要比受到建筑师的影响还要大，这也就是为什么他的建筑通常看起来就像是由几何模型形成的充满活力的雕刻品。
他所设计的一些著名的建筑包括德国的Vitra设计博物馆，这座博物馆于1989年完工。他设计的“舞蹈房”位于捷克首都布拉格，这是一座非常有趣的建筑，这座舞蹈房建成于1996年，它看起来就像是两位舞蹈的少女。
杰里最著名的建筑是位于西班牙毕尔巴鄂的古根海姆博物馆，这座博物馆于1997年建成，这座建筑的绝大部分弯曲处都覆盖着钛金属，它看起来就像是河中跳动的金属波浪。这座建筑及杰里其他的一些建筑的弯曲表面非常复杂，它要求必须通过计算机程序来进行设计。
最近，弗兰克.杰里设计了
沃尔特.迪斯尼音乐大厅，该音乐大厅位于加州的洛杉机，这座巨型的外表全为金属的建筑看起来就像是一艘航海的船。弗兰克.杰里的建筑深受人们欢迎，以至有些人说这些建筑创造了“杰里效应”，这个术语用在了对人们具有强大吸引力的建筑上，因为这是著名的建筑设计师设计的。
我们已经介绍了全世界许多著名的建筑，这些建筑都是建筑上的奇迹，你也许不会想到：靠近有轨电车站的一个停车场可能是现代建筑最著名的工程之一，法国斯特拉斯堡停车场和终点站就是一个很好的例子，它充分展现了扎哈.哈迪德高超的技巧和丰富的创造力。这个能停放七百辆汽车的停车场是一个充满活力的场所，附近未来派的有轨电车站是由尖角和几何形状形成的。
扎哈.哈迪德还设计了其他一些惊人的建筑，如位于俄亥俄州辛辛那提的罗森塔尔当代艺术中心，为了这个大胆的箱型设计，她通过缓慢的弯曲从而在建筑内形成了一面墙而创造了一个人行道的入口区。哈迪德因设计和建造了在纸上几乎是不可能完成的建筑而闻名于世，她说，建筑自然是为了掩蔽，但同时也能给人们带来愉悦。
出生在伊拉克的扎哈.哈迪德在英国完成了她的建筑学学业，她现在住在英国。在2004年，哈迪德成为第一位获得普立兹克建筑大奖的女性。托马斯.普立兹克为这项大奖提供奖金，他说，她的作品将土地、空间、建筑和人非常完美地结合在一起，相互不可分离。当前，哈迪德的建筑工程和她的建筑设计包括位于英格兰的格拉斯哥运输博物馆和位于密歇根州立大学的伊莱.布鲁德和伊迪斯.布鲁德艺术博物馆。
塔道.安道是日本的一名建筑师，他一直在大阪市及其周围工作。安道从来没有为获得一个建筑学学位而学习，他通过参观建筑和阅读书籍来自学现代建筑艺术。塔道.安道早期的工程是住房。在1993年，他因Rokko住房工程而获得了日本的文化创意奖，这些简单却很惊人的混泥土建筑依山而建，可以俯瞰大阪湾。
安道因把未成型的钢筋混泥土作为建筑材料而闻名，而且，他还因以尽可能地与自然环境相融和的简单的设计来建造住房而闻名。塔道.安道说当你建造一幢建筑物时，你不能简单地在一个地方放上新的东西就行了，他说，你要理解你周围所看到的一切，在地上都有些什么。他说，你必须利用你的知识和现代的思想来设计。
安道还设计建造了一座发光的教堂，这座位于大阪的宗教建筑设计的非常简单，但却非常漂亮，其主体部分是用混泥土建造的，墙上除了在混泥土中开了一个口子以外什么也没有，在这个口子上交叉地设计
了两排十字架灯。在2002年，位于德克萨斯州福特沃斯堡他的现代艺术馆建成开放，这座建筑非常令人惊奇，使你不得不提醒自己来观看艺术。这座混泥土和玻璃博物馆就建在水边上，所以，它看起来就像在水中漂动一样。玻璃墙让自然光进入，同时也让游客通过水也能看到这座城市。
丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德出生在波兰，但在美国长大。他作为一名建筑设计教师开始了他的事业。莱伯斯金德的第一个工程是位于德国柏林的一座新的犹太人博物馆，这座犹太人博物馆于2001年建成对外开放，这座建筑以锌涂其外表，整个建筑由曲线和角度组成。这座建筑许多地方的设计表现了犹太人不同时代的历史和文化。莱伯斯金德曾经说，建筑也是一种沟通，他说，他建这座博物馆是为了以许多不同的方式来讲述一个复杂的故事。
他负责的加拿大安大略皇家博物馆新馆扩建工程，新建工程于去年6月建成对外开放。这座有着许多尖角的迈克尔.李秦水晶宫看起来就像是一个巨大的玻璃和铝组合在一起的宝石，它有五个相互链接的空间，这需要很复杂的工程技术。丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德在美国还有许多工程。科罗拉多州丹佛艺术博物馆的扩建工程，其外表涂有银色的钛金属，莱伯斯金德说，这座建筑受到自然光和附近洛基山脉的环境的影响。莱伯斯金德和他的建筑团体最近正在肯塔基州康威顿的一座公寓大楼和内华达州拉斯维加斯的购物中心忙乎着。他负责的中国香港城市大学那座富有创意的媒体中心预计将在2010年竣工。
今天，我们没有那么多时间来讲述所有富有想象力的建筑师，但我们今天对罗伯特.文丘里、弗兰克.杰里、塔道.安道、扎哈.哈迪德和丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德五位大师的设计的了解，是我们对那激动人心的世界现代建筑设计艺术了解的开端。
简评：
烹饪是一门艺术、建筑是一门艺术、写作是一门艺术、教学是一门艺术，绘画是一门艺术，音乐是一门艺术，甚至种地也是一门艺术，…，等等，任何一项劳动，都可能成为某一种艺术。
所谓艺术，就是人们将某一件事做得极至，从中表达个人的某种意愿，进而给他人以某种美的享受。因此，艺术并不像我们所想象的那么复杂，艺术存在于我们每一个人的心中，只是我们许多人为忙于生计而将其忽略罢了。
由此可知，劳动是艺术创造的前提，没有劳动，就不可能有什么艺术，艺术存在于劳动中。
然而，由此，我们也可知，并非有了劳动，就能创造出艺术。艺术属于那些用心去做的人，属于那些富有想象力的人、属于有创造力的人。有些人劳苦一辈子，
对其所劳动的对象将会成为什么样，根本一无所知，只知低头劳作，这样的劳动是永远也不会产生艺术的。
Five Building Designers Who Are Redefining Modern Architecture
Today we tell about five important building designers widely considered some of the top architects at work today. They are Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind. They have all created important examples of modern architecture in very different ways. You can see their energizing and imaginative contributions to modern design in buildings around the world.
The writings and buildings of American architect Robert Venturi have helped redefine
The Vanna Venturi house in Philadelphia
the path of modern architecture since the nineteen sixties. The Vanna Venturi house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was one of his first important projects. Venturi designed the house for his mother in nineteen sixty-two. He has said that the house is complex and full of contradictions. For example, the house is small, but it has large details that make it seem big. And, the house is modern while also containing details from traditional architecture.
In his buildings and writings, Robert Venturi calls for a kind of modern architecture that shows the influences of history while also including popular culture. He rejected the kind of modern design that was pure and simple in favor of a modern look that was a mixture of styles and influences. His writings helped begin what is often called the post-modern movement.
Examples of his buildings include the addition to the National Gallery in London, England. Venturi designed this large building on Trafalgar Square as a more modern version of the museum’s nineteenth century main building. His other museum projects include the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California and the Seattle Museum of Art in Washington. Venturi also designed buildings at many American colleges, including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Frank Gehry grew up in Canada. In his free time as a child, he would make small versions of buildings out of pieces of wood. In nineteen forty-seven, his family moved to the United States, where Gehry began his university studies in architecture. Frank Gehry believes that architecture is art. He has said that in some ways he has been more influenced by artists and sculptors than by architects. This may be why his buildings often look like energetic sculptures made from bold geometric forms.
Famous examples of his designs include the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, finished in nineteen-eighty nine. His “Dancing House is in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. This playful building, finished in nineteen ninety-six, looks like two dancers.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Gehry’s most famous building is the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao in Spain which was completed in nineteen ninety-seven
. Most of the curving building is covered in titanium. It looks like a dancing metal wave sitting on the edge of a river. The curved surfaces of this building and others by Gehry are so complex to build that they require computer programs.
More recently, Frank Gehry designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. This huge metal covered building was designed to look like the sails of a boat. Frank Gehry’s buildings are so popular that some people say they create a “Gehry effect. This term is used for a building that attracts visitors because of the famous architect who designed it.
We have described some famous buildings around the world that are architectural wonders. You might not think that a parking area near a tram station would be a project of one of the most famous names in modern architecture. But the car park and terminus in Strasbourg, France are a good example of the skill and creativity of Zaha Hadid. This parking area for seven hundred cars is a play of energetic lines. Nearby, the futuristic tram station is made up of sharp angles and geometric shapes.
The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati
Zaha Hadid has designed other striking buildings such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. For this boldly boxy design, she created an entry walkway area that slowly curves and becomes a wall inside the building. Hadid is known for designing and completing structures that seem almost impossible on paper. She says that architecture is clearly about shelter, but it must also bring pleasure.
Born in Iraq, Zaha Hadid completed her architectural studies in Britain, where she now lives. In two thousand four, Hadid became the first woman to win the important Pritzker Prize for architecture. Thomas Pritzker presented the award. He said that her work organizes land, space, structure, and person so that each is inseparable from the other, and each calls to the other. Current projects of Hadid and her architects include the Glasgow Transport Museum in Scotland and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.
Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect who has mainly worked in and around his city of
Japan's Rokko housing project
Osaka. Ando never studied for a degree in architecture. Instead, he taught himself about modern architecture by visiting buildings and reading books. Tadao Ando’s first projects were houses. In nineteen ninety-three he won Japan’s Culture Design Prize for the Rokko housing project. These simple but striking concrete houses are built along the side of a hill overlooking Osaka Bay.
Ando is known for using unfinished reinforced concrete as a building material. And he is known for making buildings with simple designs that are closely connected to the natural environment. Tadao Ando says that when you create a building, you cannot simply put something new in a place. He says you have to under
stand what you see around you, what is on the land. He says you must use that knowledge along with modern thinking to plan a building design.
Ando also built the Church of Light. This religious building in Osaka is very simple in its design, but very beautiful. The main room is made of concrete. There is nothing on the walls except an opening in the concrete. The opening creates two bars of light in the form of a cross. In two thousand two, his Modern Art Museum opened in Fort Worth, Texas. The building is so striking that you have to remind yourself to also look at the art. The concrete and glass museum is built next to a body of water, so it almost seems to float. The glass walls let natural light into the space while also allowing visitors to look out across the water to see the city.
A part of the Jewish Museum, Berlin
Daniel Libeskind was born in Poland, but grew up in the United States. He began his career as a teacher of building design. Libeskind’s first project was the new building of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany, which opened to the public in two thousand one. It is a zinc-covered building made up of bold bending lines and sharp angles. Many areas of the building were designed to represent different parts of Jewish history and culture. Libeskind has said that architecture is about communicating. He says that he built this museum to tell a complex story in many different ways.
His extension to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada opened in June of last year. The sharp angles of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building make it look like a large glass and aluminum gem. The five interlocking spaces of this building required very complex engineering skills to create. Daniel Libeskind also has many projects in the United States. The tall extensions of the Denver Art Museum in Colorado are covered in silver-colored titanium metal. Libeskind says the building was influenced by the light and environment of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Libeskind and his team of architects are currently working on an apartment building in Covington, Kentucky and a shopping center in Las Vegas, Nevada. His Creative Media Centre at the City University of Hong Kong in China is expected to be finished in two thousand ten.
We did not have time to talk about all the other imaginative architects at work today. But the designs of Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind are a good start for learning about the exciting world of modern building design.
五位当今世界最著名的现代建筑大师
五位给现代建筑重新定义的建筑设计师
今天，我们向你介绍五位被广泛认为是当今世界顶尖的建筑设计师，他们是罗伯特.文丘里、弗兰克.杰里、塔道.安道、扎哈.哈迪德和丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德，他们都以不同的方式为现代建筑创造了重要的范例，你可以在全世界的现代建筑设计里看到他们那充满活力、充满想象力的建筑。
自二十世纪六十年代以来，美国建筑师罗伯特.文丘里的著作和他的建筑为我们重新定义现代建筑找到了一条途径，位于宾夕法尼亚州费城的凡娜.文丘里住房就是他早期重要的作品之一。1962年，文丘里为他的母亲设计了这座房子，他曾经说过，这座房子非常复杂且相互矛盾，例如，这座房子很小，但这座房子通过大量的细节表现，使得这座房子看起来显得很大，而且，这座现代建筑同时也包含传统建筑的元素。
在他的建筑和他的著作中，罗伯特.文丘里呼吁这样一种现代建筑，这种现代建筑既能表现历史的影响，同时也能包含现代通俗的文化，他反对那种将各种风格混合在一起的十足的现代建筑设计。他的著作掀起了一场现在称之为的后现代派潮流。
他的建筑还包括英国伦敦的国家艺术走廊新扩建的部分，文丘里按照非常现代的模式来设计这座大型的建筑，这座博物馆位于伦敦特拉法尔广场，它是十九世纪主要建筑。他的其他的博物馆工程包括加州圣迭哥的当代艺术博物馆和位于华盛顿的西雅图艺术博物馆。文丘里还给许多美国大学设计，包括哈佛大学和宾夕法尼亚大学。
弗兰克.杰里生长在加拿大，在他儿童时期，他就用小木片来搭建小房子。在1947年，他们家搬到了美国，在美国，杰里开始上大学，他学的就是建筑学。弗兰克.杰里认为建筑是一门艺术，他曾经说，在某些方面，他受到了艺术家和雕刻家的影响要比受到建筑师的影响还要大，这也就是为什么他的建筑通常看起来就像是由几何模型形成的充满活力的雕刻品。
他所设计的一些著名的建筑包括德国的Vitra设计博物馆，这座博物馆于1989年完工。他设计的“舞蹈房”位于捷克首都布拉格，这是一座非常有趣的建筑，这座舞蹈房建成于1996年，它看起来就像是两位舞蹈的少女。
杰里最著名的建筑是位于西班牙毕尔巴鄂的古根海姆博物馆，这座博物馆于1997年建成，这座建筑的绝大部分弯曲处都覆盖着钛金属，它看起来就像是河中跳动的金属波浪。这座建筑及杰里其他的一些建筑的弯曲表面非常复杂，它要求必须通过计算机程序来进行设计。
最近，弗兰克.杰里设计了
沃尔特.迪斯尼音乐大厅，该音乐大厅位于加州的洛杉机，这座巨型的外表全为金属的建筑看起来就像是一艘航海的船。弗兰克.杰里的建筑深受人们欢迎，以至有些人说这些建筑创造了“杰里效应”，这个术语用在了对人们具有强大吸引力的建筑上，因为这是著名的建筑设计师设计的。
我们已经介绍了全世界许多著名的建筑，这些建筑都是建筑上的奇迹，你也许不会想到：靠近有轨电车站的一个停车场可能是现代建筑最著名的工程之一，法国斯特拉斯堡停车场和终点站就是一个很好的例子，它充分展现了扎哈.哈迪德高超的技巧和丰富的创造力。这个能停放七百辆汽车的停车场是一个充满活力的场所，附近未来派的有轨电车站是由尖角和几何形状形成的。
扎哈.哈迪德还设计了其他一些惊人的建筑，如位于俄亥俄州辛辛那提的罗森塔尔当代艺术中心，为了这个大胆的箱型设计，她通过缓慢的弯曲从而在建筑内形成了一面墙而创造了一个人行道的入口区。哈迪德因设计和建造了在纸上几乎是不可能完成的建筑而闻名于世，她说，建筑自然是为了掩蔽，但同时也能给人们带来愉悦。
出生在伊拉克的扎哈.哈迪德在英国完成了她的建筑学学业，她现在住在英国。在2004年，哈迪德成为第一位获得普立兹克建筑大奖的女性。托马斯.普立兹克为这项大奖提供奖金，他说，她的作品将土地、空间、建筑和人非常完美地结合在一起，相互不可分离。当前，哈迪德的建筑工程和她的建筑设计包括位于英格兰的格拉斯哥运输博物馆和位于密歇根州立大学的伊莱.布鲁德和伊迪斯.布鲁德艺术博物馆。
塔道.安道是日本的一名建筑师，他一直在大阪市及其周围工作。安道从来没有为获得一个建筑学学位而学习，他通过参观建筑和阅读书籍来自学现代建筑艺术。塔道.安道早期的工程是住房。在1993年，他因Rokko住房工程而获得了日本的文化创意奖，这些简单却很惊人的混泥土建筑依山而建，可以俯瞰大阪湾。
安道因把未成型的钢筋混泥土作为建筑材料而闻名，而且，他还因以尽可能地与自然环境相融和的简单的设计来建造住房而闻名。塔道.安道说当你建造一幢建筑物时，你不能简单地在一个地方放上新的东西就行了，他说，你要理解你周围所看到的一切，在地上都有些什么。他说，你必须利用你的知识和现代的思想来设计。
安道还设计建造了一座发光的教堂，这座位于大阪的宗教建筑设计的非常简单，但却非常漂亮，其主体部分是用混泥土建造的，墙上除了在混泥土中开了一个口子以外什么也没有，在这个口子上交叉地设计
了两排十字架灯。在2002年，位于德克萨斯州福特沃斯堡他的现代艺术馆建成开放，这座建筑非常令人惊奇，使你不得不提醒自己来观看艺术。这座混泥土和玻璃博物馆就建在水边上，所以，它看起来就像在水中漂动一样。玻璃墙让自然光进入，同时也让游客通过水也能看到这座城市。
丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德出生在波兰，但在美国长大。他作为一名建筑设计教师开始了他的事业。莱伯斯金德的第一个工程是位于德国柏林的一座新的犹太人博物馆，这座犹太人博物馆于2001年建成对外开放，这座建筑以锌涂其外表，整个建筑由曲线和角度组成。这座建筑许多地方的设计表现了犹太人不同时代的历史和文化。莱伯斯金德曾经说，建筑也是一种沟通，他说，他建这座博物馆是为了以许多不同的方式来讲述一个复杂的故事。
他负责的加拿大安大略皇家博物馆新馆扩建工程，新建工程于去年6月建成对外开放。这座有着许多尖角的迈克尔.李秦水晶宫看起来就像是一个巨大的玻璃和铝组合在一起的宝石，它有五个相互链接的空间，这需要很复杂的工程技术。丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德在美国还有许多工程。科罗拉多州丹佛艺术博物馆的扩建工程，其外表涂有银色的钛金属，莱伯斯金德说，这座建筑受到自然光和附近洛基山脉的环境的影响。莱伯斯金德和他的建筑团体最近正在肯塔基州康威顿的一座公寓大楼和内华达州拉斯维加斯的购物中心忙乎着。他负责的中国香港城市大学那座富有创意的媒体中心预计将在2010年竣工。
今天，我们没有那么多时间来讲述所有富有想象力的建筑师，但我们今天对罗伯特.文丘里、弗兰克.杰里、塔道.安道、扎哈.哈迪德和丹尼尔.莱伯斯金德五位大师的设计的了解，是我们对那激动人心的世界现代建筑设计艺术了解的开端。
简评：
烹饪是一门艺术、建筑是一门艺术、写作是一门艺术、教学是一门艺术，绘画是一门艺术，音乐是一门艺术，甚至种地也是一门艺术，…，等等，任何一项劳动，都可能成为某一种艺术。
所谓艺术，就是人们将某一件事做得极至，从中表达个人的某种意愿，进而给他人以某种美的享受。因此，艺术并不像我们所想象的那么复杂，艺术存在于我们每一个人的心中，只是我们许多人为忙于生计而将其忽略罢了。
由此可知，劳动是艺术创造的前提，没有劳动，就不可能有什么艺术，艺术存在于劳动中。
然而，由此，我们也可知，并非有了劳动，就能创造出艺术。艺术属于那些用心去做的人，属于那些富有想象力的人、属于有创造力的人。有些人劳苦一辈子，
对其所劳动的对象将会成为什么样，根本一无所知，只知低头劳作，这样的劳动是永远也不会产生艺术的。
Five Building Designers Who Are Redefining Modern Architecture
Today we tell about five important building designers widely considered some of the top architects at work today. They are Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind. They have all created important examples of modern architecture in very different ways. You can see their energizing and imaginative contributions to modern design in buildings around the world.
The writings and buildings of American architect Robert Venturi have helped redefine
The Vanna Venturi house in Philadelphia
the path of modern architecture since the nineteen sixties. The Vanna Venturi house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was one of his first important projects. Venturi designed the house for his mother in nineteen sixty-two. He has said that the house is complex and full of contradictions. For example, the house is small, but it has large details that make it seem big. And, the house is modern while also containing details from traditional architecture.
In his buildings and writings, Robert Venturi calls for a kind of modern architecture that shows the influences of history while also including popular culture. He rejected the kind of modern design that was pure and simple in favor of a modern look that was a mixture of styles and influences. His writings helped begin what is often called the post-modern movement.
Examples of his buildings include the addition to the National Gallery in London, England. Venturi designed this large building on Trafalgar Square as a more modern version of the museum’s nineteenth century main building. His other museum projects include the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California and the Seattle Museum of Art in Washington. Venturi also designed buildings at many American colleges, including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Frank Gehry grew up in Canada. In his free time as a child, he would make small versions of buildings out of pieces of wood. In nineteen forty-seven, his family moved to the United States, where Gehry began his university studies in architecture. Frank Gehry believes that architecture is art. He has said that in some ways he has been more influenced by artists and sculptors than by architects. This may be why his buildings often look like energetic sculptures made from bold geometric forms.
Famous examples of his designs include the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, finished in nineteen-eighty nine. His “Dancing House is in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. This playful building, finished in nineteen ninety-six, looks like two dancers.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Gehry’s most famous building is the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao in Spain which was completed in nineteen ninety-seven
. Most of the curving building is covered in titanium. It looks like a dancing metal wave sitting on the edge of a river. The curved surfaces of this building and others by Gehry are so complex to build that they require computer programs.
More recently, Frank Gehry designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. This huge metal covered building was designed to look like the sails of a boat. Frank Gehry’s buildings are so popular that some people say they create a “Gehry effect. This term is used for a building that attracts visitors because of the famous architect who designed it.
We have described some famous buildings around the world that are architectural wonders. You might not think that a parking area near a tram station would be a project of one of the most famous names in modern architecture. But the car park and terminus in Strasbourg, France are a good example of the skill and creativity of Zaha Hadid. This parking area for seven hundred cars is a play of energetic lines. Nearby, the futuristic tram station is made up of sharp angles and geometric shapes.
The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati
Zaha Hadid has designed other striking buildings such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. For this boldly boxy design, she created an entry walkway area that slowly curves and becomes a wall inside the building. Hadid is known for designing and completing structures that seem almost impossible on paper. She says that architecture is clearly about shelter, but it must also bring pleasure.
Born in Iraq, Zaha Hadid completed her architectural studies in Britain, where she now lives. In two thousand four, Hadid became the first woman to win the important Pritzker Prize for architecture. Thomas Pritzker presented the award. He said that her work organizes land, space, structure, and person so that each is inseparable from the other, and each calls to the other. Current projects of Hadid and her architects include the Glasgow Transport Museum in Scotland and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.
Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect who has mainly worked in and around his city of
Japan's Rokko housing project
Osaka. Ando never studied for a degree in architecture. Instead, he taught himself about modern architecture by visiting buildings and reading books. Tadao Ando’s first projects were houses. In nineteen ninety-three he won Japan’s Culture Design Prize for the Rokko housing project. These simple but striking concrete houses are built along the side of a hill overlooking Osaka Bay.
Ando is known for using unfinished reinforced concrete as a building material. And he is known for making buildings with simple designs that are closely connected to the natural environment. Tadao Ando says that when you create a building, you cannot simply put something new in a place. He says you have to under
stand what you see around you, what is on the land. He says you must use that knowledge along with modern thinking to plan a building design.
Ando also built the Church of Light. This religious building in Osaka is very simple in its design, but very beautiful. The main room is made of concrete. There is nothing on the walls except an opening in the concrete. The opening creates two bars of light in the form of a cross. In two thousand two, his Modern Art Museum opened in Fort Worth, Texas. The building is so striking that you have to remind yourself to also look at the art. The concrete and glass museum is built next to a body of water, so it almost seems to float. The glass walls let natural light into the space while also allowing visitors to look out across the water to see the city.
A part of the Jewish Museum, Berlin
Daniel Libeskind was born in Poland, but grew up in the United States. He began his career as a teacher of building design. Libeskind’s first project was the new building of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany, which opened to the public in two thousand one. It is a zinc-covered building made up of bold bending lines and sharp angles. Many areas of the building were designed to represent different parts of Jewish history and culture. Libeskind has said that architecture is about communicating. He says that he built this museum to tell a complex story in many different ways.
His extension to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada opened in June of last year. The sharp angles of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building make it look like a large glass and aluminum gem. The five interlocking spaces of this building required very complex engineering skills to create. Daniel Libeskind also has many projects in the United States. The tall extensions of the Denver Art Museum in Colorado are covered in silver-colored titanium metal. Libeskind says the building was influenced by the light and environment of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Libeskind and his team of architects are currently working on an apartment building in Covington, Kentucky and a shopping center in Las Vegas, Nevada. His Creative Media Centre at the City University of Hong Kong in China is expected to be finished in two thousand ten.
We did not have time to talk about all the other imaginative architects at work today. But the designs of Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind are a good start for learning about the exciting world of modern building design.