Whether it involves residential projects, shopping malls, or even skyscrapers, architects are essential for our existence, because our world would not be the same without their work. 

 

The amazing architectural projects are always admired, but have you ever wondered who their architect is? We introduce you to a list of the world's top 20 architects, so you can get to know them.

 

20: James Von Klemperer | Famous American Architects

 

James von Klemperer, president at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, photo source: vbki.com

 

James von Klemperer is an American architect, president of the architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, and famous for his new city projects, particularly skyscrapers such as Lotte World Tower and One Vanderbilt, currently the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan.

 

Project by James von Klemperer, photo source: klook.com

 

19: Rem Koolhaas | Famous Architects

 

Rem Koolhaas is one of the worlds’ best and most famous architects, photo source: wikimedia.com

 

Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, who graduated from Harvard University School of Design. One of the most influential contemporary architects, Koolhaas is known for the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, De Rotterdam, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Headquarters, China. 

 

CCTV Headquarters, photo source: buro-os.com

 

18: César Pelli | Famous American Architects

 

César Pelli, photo source: bbc.com

 

Born in October 1926, César Pelli was an Argentine-American architect who designed the world's tallest buildings. César Pelli died on July 19, 2019, and his work includes the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Brookfield Place (the World Financial Center) New York. The American Institute of Architects named him one of the ten most influential living American architects in 1991 and was awarded the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects in 1995. In 2008, he received the Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. 

 

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, photo source: veltravel.com

 

17: Jean Nouvel | Famous Architects

 

Jean Nouvel, photo source: wikimedia.com

 

Jean Nouvel has designed many remarkable buildings around the world, including London’s One New Change, Philharmonie de Paris, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Doha Tower (Burj Doha), and many others. As part of the announcement for Nouvel's Pritzker Prize, the Hyatt Foundation has published a complete graphic list of Nouvel's works, including projects that were never built. 

 

Philharmonie de Paris by Jean Nouvel, photo source: Rockwool

 

16: Eero Saarinen | Famous Architects

 

Eero Saarinen, photo source: archinet.com

 

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect, best known for designing the Dulles International Airport, outside Washington D.C., the TWA Flight Center in New York, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. Eero Saarinen was born in 1910 and passed away on September 1, 1961, at 51. 

  

 

Washington International Airport, photo source: wikimedia.com

 

15: I. M. Pei | Famous Architects

 

I. M. Pei , photo source: fortune.com

 

One of I. M. Pei's famous projects is the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, as well as the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. In China, he designed the Fragrant Hills Hotel and the Bank of China Tower. In 1980, I. M. Pei created controversy with Louvre Pyramid, a structure made from glass and steel. 

 

Louvre Pyramid, photo source: ziuaconstanta.ro

 

14: Antoni Gaudí | Famous Architects

 

Antoni Gaudí, photo source: spatiulconstruit.ro

 

He was the greatest promoter of Catalan modernism, with a highly individual style. Sagrada Familia is his masterpiece, a fusion of architectural evolution. Antoni Gaudi imagined the cathedral’s interior to look like a forest, with columns leaning like branching, helical trees. 

 

Sagrada Familia’s is still not completed, photo source: g4media.ro

 

13: Oscar Niemeyer | Famous Architects

 

Oscar Niemeyer, photo source: thefamouspeople.com

 

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho was a Brazilian architect considered one of the pioneers of modern architecture. Since 1984, the Rio de Janeiro Carnival has been held in the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Niemeyer is best known for designing civic buildings for Brasilia, a planned city that was to become Brazil's capital in 1960. 

 

12: Philip Johnson | Famous American Architects

 

Philip Johnson, photo source: newyorker.com

 

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an American architect best known for his work of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known works are the modernist Glass House from New Canaan, Connecticu,t and the postmodern 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed as AT&T headquarters. 

 

Philip Johnson project, photo source: newyorker.com

 

11: Renzo Piano | Famous Architects

 

Renzo Piano, photo source: npr.com

 

Renzo Piano is an Italian architect, famous for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, London’s The Shard, New York’s the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens. 

 

The Shard, London, by Renzo Piano, photo source: aquirteta.com

 

10: Louis Kahn | Famous American Architects

 

Louis Kahn, photo source: kimbellart.com

 

Considered one of the great master builders of the 20th century, Louis Kahn was one of America's most influential modernist architects. Among his famous works are Phillips Exeter Academy Library and Dining Hall in Exeter, New Jersey, Yale Center for British Art at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban or National Parliament House, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, Bangladesh capital.

 

Phillips Exeter Academy Library and Dining Hall, photo source: aquirteta.com

 

9: Santiago Calatrava | Famous Architects

 

Santiago Calatrava, photo source: amazingarchitecture.com

 

He is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and painter, mainly known for his bridges whose sculptural forms resemble living organisms. His famous designs include the Olympic Sports Complex of Athens, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Turning Torso Tower in Malmo, Sweden, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City, the Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas. His biggest project is the City of Arts and Sciences and Opera House from his native town, Valencia. 

 

8: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | Famous Architects

 

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, photo source: archisoup.com

 

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect and one of the modernist architecture’s founders. His works include the Farnsworth House, The Barcelona Pavilion, Chicago Federal Center, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, and many others.

 

Chicago Federal Center, photo source: ghafari 

 

Find out more about the Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Roge from the blog post. 

 

7: Le Corbusier | Top Famous Architects  

 

Le Corbusier, photo source: greenlane.com

 

Le Corbusier is the great pioneer of modern architecture and designer of many amazing buildings around the world, in France, India, and the USA. His landmark works include Villa Savoye in Poissy, Notre Dame du Haut in Romchamp, and Villa La Roche, designed alongside Pierre Jeanneret in Paris.

 

Notre-Dame du Haut, photo source: architecturaldigest.com

 

6: Moshe Sadie | Famous Architects

 

Moshe Safdie, photo source: wikimedia.com

 

Moshe Safdie is one of the world's most famous architects and the number seven spot in our top list. His works include the Marina Bay Sands & Jewel Changi Airport, both in Singapore, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, and many others. 

 

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas, photo source: burrohappold.com

 

5: Frank Gehry | Famous Architects

 

Frank Gehry, photo source: theguardian.com

 

One of Frank Gehry most famous works is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, as well as Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Stata Center from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge Massachusetts, the Louis Vuitton Foundation – museum and cultural center – in Paris, France, the Art Gallery of Ontario and 8 Spruce Street (New York by Gehry). 

 

 

8 Spruce Street by Frank Gehry, photo source: archisearch.com

 

4: Bjarke Ingels | Famous Architects

 

Bjarke Ingels, photo source: architectonic.com

 

Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels is a Danish architect, founder, and creative partner of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Born in October 1974, Bjarke became famous after designing two housing developments in Denmark, Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain Dwellings.

 

VM House, one of Bjarke Ingels most famous works, photo source: archisearch.com

 

3: Zaha Hadid | Famous Architects

 

Zaha Hadid, photo source: wikimedia.com

 

Zaha Hadid is the world's most famous female architect and a pioneer of the 21^st century architecture. Zaha Hadid has been often described as “Queen of the curve” and is the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Zaha's most famous works include the London Aquatics Center, the Galaxy SOHO urban complex from Beijing, and the Napoli Afragola railway station from Naples, Italy. 

 

Infinitus Plaza, China, photo source: archdaily.com

 

2: Frank Lloyd Wright | Famous Architects

 

Frank Lloyd Wright, photo source: franklloydwright.com

 

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect and designer, famous for over 1,000 structures throughout a career that spanned over 70 years. One of his most famous works includes the Fallingwater house, located in the Laurel Highlands, Southwestern Pennsylvania, built partly over a natural waterfall. Other remarkable projects include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. 

 

Fallingwater, one of best all-time works of architecture, photo source: simpleviewinc.com

 

1: Norman Foster | Famous Architects

 

Norman Foster, photo source: walterknoll.com

 

The most famous architect, founder, and partner of Foster + Partners. His works include 30 St Mary Axe (also known as the Gherkin) in London and the HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong. Normal Foster was awarded more than 470 prizes for architecture and design, throughout his career. 

 

30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin), one of London’s Landmarks, photo source: needestate.com