World Architects Practices, Contemporary Design Offices across the Globe, Links
World Architects : Global Design Studios
Major Architecture Offices – Global Architectural Practice Listings
post updated 23 August 2021
Famous Architects – Contemporary
© SANAA photograph © Takashi Okamoto
We’ve selected what we feel are the key examples of Architects in the World. We aim to include design studios that are either of top quality or interesting, or ideally both. The focus is on contemporary architecture practices but information on major historic design studios is also welcome.
A
C
Santiago Calatrava I David Chipperfield I Coop Himmelb(l)au I Edward Cullinan
D
Paulo Mendes da Rocha I Günther Domenig
E
Erick Van Egeraat I Peter Eisenman I Ralph Erskine
F
Terry Farrell I Feilden Clegg Bradley I Foreign Office Architects
Foster + Partners I Massimiliano Fuksas I Future Systems
G
Frank Gehry I Gerkan, Marg & Partners I Nicholas Grimshaw
H
Zaha Hadid I Herzog & de Meuron I Steven Holl I Hans Hollein I Michael Hopkins
I
J
K
L
Henning Larsen I Daniel Libeskind
M
make I John McAslan I Rick Mather I Mecanoo architecten I Richard Meier
Enric Miralles I Rafael Moneo I Morphosis Architects I MVRDV
N
O
P
I M Pei I Cesar Pelli I Dominique Perrault I Renzo Piano
R
Ian Ritchie I Richard Rogers I Aldo Rossi
S
Moshe Safdie I SANAA Architects I Ian Simpson Architects I Alvaro Siza
U
UNStudio
V
Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates I Rafael Vinoly
Listed above are the key architect studios across the globe. Some major architects are listed individually as well as for their architecture practice, eg Rem Koolhaas is the lead designer in OMA. This is because in many design-led architecture offices the persona of the key designer can take on a slightly independent role – writing books or curating exhibitions under their name rather than for their practice. These architects tend to be the leaders in critical thinking about architecture.
Celebrated established architectural thinkers include Rem Koolhaas (OMA), Wolf Prix (Coop Himmelb(l)au), Winy Maas (MVRDV), Herzog & de Meuron, SANAA and Steven Holl. World-famous architects that are also highly inventive include Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster.
Some architects are not popularily known globally but highly respected amonst their peers – examples would be Peter Zumthor and Snohetta. Architects with a wide international body of work includeTadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava, David Chipperfield and UNStudio.
The key up-and-coming architects include BIG, J Mayer H and JDS. Architects listed above who are from a slightly earlier generation and thus coming down from their peak are Aldo Rossi, Moshe Safdie and Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.
We don’t list architects above that are no longer alive (apart from Enric Miralles whose key works are recent and still resonant) – but in the 20th Century the key architects are generally acknowledged to be Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, though of course many will have others that they regards highest, such as Walter Gropius, Alvar Aaalto and Louis Kahn.
Of course tastes and fashions change with time and across the world’s regions, architects such as Meier, Morphosis and Libeskind have at times been hugely influential to architecture students and practitioners, but new shifts are of course emerging constantly so evaluations of reputation need to be firmly rooted beneath fashionable concerns which naturally tend to be fleeting.
World Architect Portraits – Photos of key designers
Zaha Hadid architect, photograph : Steve Double
World Architects Offices
Website: Architectural Walking Tours
Duke’s Avenue House, Chiswick
Architects: IBLA
photograph : Brotherton Lock
Contemporary House in London
Comments / photos for the World Architecture Studios – Global Design Studios page welcome