Saturday, August 23, 2008

Arquitecture is a language

The phrases 'contemporary architects' and 'contemporary architecture' have obvious meanings but like 'modern architects' and 'modern architecture' the terminology is open to interpretation - shades of meaning.

Modern Architects
Modern Architecture became linked to a certain genre of building and thus over time wasn't really 'modern' anymore. Contemporary Architecture currently has less baggage, it is not affected by fall-out from the reign of a certain style.
Modern Architecture - the 'International Style' - was associated with some great architects and some powerful countries and companies. It became the equivalent of the Classical Style in the Georgian period, ie the establishment architecture, the status quo. Some key Modern Architects include Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Since the seventies architecture styles have become more fractured and we have - amongst what could be termed contemporary architects - post-modernists, neo-modernists, deconstructivists, contextualists, expressionists and so on.
‘Contemporary Architects' suggests a position that is anti-vernacular, comfortable with new materials and non-local materials & forms, using architectural language that is not generally steeped in past typographies or traditions.

Famous World Architects - Contemporary

Santiago Calatrava
David Chipperfield
Terry Farrell
Foster & Partners
Future Systems
Frank Gehry
Zaha Hadid
Michael Hopkins
Steven Holl
Toyo Ito
Henning Larsen
Daniel Libeskind
MVRDV
John McAslan
Rick Mather
Richard Meier
Enric Miralles
Rafael Moneo
Jean Nouvel
Cesar Pelli
Renzo Piano
Richard Rogers
Moshe Safdie
Alvaro Siza
Snohetta
Bernard Tschumi
Ruy Ohtake
Oscar Niemeyer

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