This lavish decorated apartment building is a tale of two facades. While its organic curves and intricate mezzanine balconies are a miracle of stonework at the front, the more imposing undulating curves, bulging protuberances, and colourful tiling at the rear provide a rather different but equally impressive sight. (more…)

Zaha Hadid (born 1950), Iraqi and female and a short time ago only the creator of fantastic, unbuilt, and perhaps unbuildable projects that existed only a translucent layers of computer graphics and that seemed disassembled, has now become an international architectural star laden with real commissions. (more…)

It is hard to believe that this outlandish Modernist creation used to be a factory. Its elegant, open parabolic arches, undulating domed roofs, and minaret-like tower are a joy to behold while its aesthetically pleasing smooth curves seem to ache to be touched. Located in the city of Terrassa, which is known for its fabric manufacturing, Masia Freixa was originally a textile mill. In 1910 it was converted into this Gaudi-inspired, organic yet austere sea of arches as a private residence for the industrialist Jose Freixa. (more…)

This building forms the end of a housing and office block in Ginza, Tokyo, appearing from the highway as a terminal spike. It occupies a narrow triangular site of only 189 square metres., locate directly at the Tokyo Expressway Number 1 exit. Kenzo Tange designed it as a slender tower, clad in black aluminum. The stairways and elevators are accommodated in a central, cylindrical core, rising 189 metres above the ground. (more…)

Gehry’s innovative office complex, located on a former industrial port site in Dusseldorf, Germany, quieted even his most adamant critics. Their argument that his architecture is merely an ecstasy of forms with confetti-like superficiality is countered by this design’s spectrum of pragmatic solutions that make these buildings both economically successful and user-friendly. (more…)

Once a decaying industrial city, Bilbao took on new verve with this stunning composition for a Guggenheim Museum on a former derelict industrial site. Gehry’s creation drew 1.3 million visitors to northern Spain in its first year. It also spawned countless imitators worldwide, all of whom sought to emulate its popularity, aptly dubbed the Bilbao effect. Seen in this light, this design achieved immediate cult status and will be remembered as one of the 1990s most influential ad impressive buildings. (more…)