FEATURE LIST
21 Most Important Works of Contemporary Architecture
A recent survey on World architecture was conducted by the American magazine Vanity Fair, to determine the most important works of contemporary architecture. 52 leading architects, teachers, and critics, including several Pritzker Prize winners and deans of major architecture schools were asked for their opinion.
The survey asked two questions: Firstly, what are the five most important buildings, bridges, or monuments constructed since 1980? Secondly, what is the greatest work of architecture thus far in the 21st century?
While the range of responses was very broad, more than half of the experts surveyed named the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry as one of the most important works since 1980.
The survey asked two questions: Firstly, what are the five most important buildings, bridges, or monuments constructed since 1980? Secondly, what is the greatest work of architecture thus far in the 21st century?
While the range of responses was very broad, more than half of the experts surveyed named the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry as one of the most important works since 1980.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.


The Renzo Piano-designed museum opened to the public in June 1987 and houses John and Dominique de Menils' privately-assembled collection of twentieth-century art, including over 15,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and rare books.


Therme Vals is the hotel/spa complex in Vals, built over the only thermal springs in the Graubünden canton in Switzerland. The architect for the project was Peter Zumthor and he received the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in the year 2009.


The new building was designed by the British architect Lord Norman Foster and Civil & Structural Engineers Ove Arup & Partners (J. Roger Preston & Partners Engineering) and was constructed by Wimpey International.


The architects conceived the new Central Library building as a celebration of books, deciding after some research that despite the arrival of the 21st century and the "digital age," people still respond to books printed on paper.


The Sendai Mediatheque is a 21st century style complex designed to learn and enjoy through the media facilities such as a library, a gallery and a studio.


The Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany was designed by the British firm James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates, although largely accredited solely to partner James Stirling. It was constructed in the 1970s and opened to the public in 1984.


Church of the light (sometimes called "Church with Light") is the Ibaraki Kasugaoka Church's main chapel. This building is one of the most famous designs of Japanese architect Tadao Ando.


The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin. The typesetting of the original 58,195 names on the wall was performed by Datalantic in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure, with the second highest clearance from the deck to the ground, after Mexico's Baluarte Bridge.


The Jewish Museum Berlin, in Berlin, Germany, covers two millennia of German Jewish history. It consists of two buildings. One is the old Kollegienhaus, a former courthouse, built in the 18th century. The other, a new addition specifically built for the museum, designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind.


The Lloyd's building (also sometimes known as the Inside-Out Building) is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London and was designed by architect Richard Rogers and built between 1978 and 1986.


Beijing National Stadium, also known officially as the National Stadium, or colloquially as the Bird's Nest, is a stadium in Beijing, China. The stadium was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.


The CCTV Headquarters is a 234 m (768 ft), 44-storey skyscraper in the Beijing Central Business District (CBD) and serves as headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV).


The foundation was created in 1984 by the Cartier SA firm as a center for contemporary art that presents exhibits by established artists, offers young artists a chance to debut, and incorporates works into its collection. In 1994 it moved to its current location in a building designed by architect Jean Nouvel with garden landscaping by Lothar Baumgarten.


BMW Welt (BMW World), is a multi-functional customer experience and exhibition facility of the BMW AG, located in Munich, Germany. In direct proximity to the BMW Headquarters and the Olympiapark, it is designed to present the current products of BMW, be a distribution center for BMW cars, and offer an event forum and a conference center.


In 1993, the museum began to consider the first expansion plans since the completion of the unfinished areas in the 1940s. Plans called for a 55 percent increase in space and were finalized in 1999. Architect Steven Holl won an international competition in 1999 for the design of the addition. Holl's concept was to build five glass towers to the east of the original building which he calls lenses.


In contrast to the Foundation Building, 41 Cooper Square is of modern, environmentally "green" design, housing nine above-ground floors and two basements.


The park was designed by Bernard Tschumi, a French architect of Swiss origin, who built it from 1984 to 1987 on the site of the huge Parisian abattoirs (slaughterhouses) and the national wholesale meat market, as part of an urban redevelopment project.


The Yokohama International Port Terminal is a location of complex movement and interchange between visitors to Yokohama and its inhabitants, between differing modes of transportation, and between both urban and aquatic landscapes.


Designed to be a church in the model city of Firminy Vert, the construction of Saint-Pierre was begun in 1971, six years after Le Corbusier's death in 1965.

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