Mar 26
The world of Architecture
HOPE AND BEYOND
By: Alina Prasad
An idea is a salvation by imagination- Frank Lloyd wright
In today’s blog, I decided to take a different path. I have always been interested in artworks and interior/exterior designing. That’s when my parents put forth the option of studying architecture in the near future. Listening to this idea I was super enthusiastic about getting to know this subject as a whole. Here are 3 of my favorite and world’s best architects and the inventions that I found were beyond words…
- Zaha Hadid ( Heydar Aliyev Center)- Baku, Azerbaijan
Iraqi-born British architect known for her radical deconstructivist designs. In 2004 she became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Her style was intensely futuristic architecture characterized by curving facades, sharp angles, and using materials such as concrete and steel. Mrs. Zaha’s project, The Heydar Aliyev Center is an important cultural center in Baku. Housed in an iconic building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. It is located in a 10-hectare public park close to the Baku Convention Center. The center takes its name from Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of Azerbaijan who led the country, when it was part of the Soviet Union, and from 1993 to 2003 as an independent nation — and is considered the founder of modern Azerbaijan. Along with hosting cultural events and promoting the Azerbaijani language, history, and culture; the Heydar Aliyev Center was conceived as a symbol of the process of Azerbaijan nation-building and the country’s recent economic development and modernization.
- Adrian Smith (Burj Khalifa)- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
In the 1960s Smith started working at a firm SOM as a young architect. He started designing Burj Khalifa while he was still attached to that firm. The firm SOM was famous for producing corporate projects mostly but Burj Khalifa was an exception. Smith retired from the firm three years earlier than the official time and took a ten years lease on an office and gathered a number of colleagues to work with and began another phase of his career. Smith has a great interest in making tall buildings and remarks that such buildings act as landmarks and leave a great influence on their surroundings.
Adrian Smith has been a registered architect in twelve states of the USA and his designs have won him more than 125 awards which include 5 international, 9 national, and 3 Urban Land Institute Awards for excellence. He is making most of his time working on his projects with a lot of dedication and unstoppable energy.
- César Pelli (Petronas Towers)- Kuala Lumpur
The Petronas Towers are twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is 451.9 meters high, The frameworks, which held the title of tallest in the world between 1998–2004, are well-known places of the capital city..” Cities,” said Pelli, “are our most important responsibility. They are the whole of which our buildings are the parts. Making a building one with its place has been a constant goal of architecture throughout the ages. Technological and cultural changes have weakened this relationship, and it is the responsibility of each one of us today to consider it in our work.” Pelli sees each project as, a “ unique condition that requires a separate act of creation. It’s the coincidence of all of the information we receive and my feelings at that moment — they come together.” During the 1990s, Pelli’s work evolved with the use of glass, metal, and thin stone veneers, which some equate to a “tent-like appearance,” particularly visible in the Petronas Towers, although they are also linked to the Islamic forms of Southeast Asia.\
My take from these 3 pieces of information would be that, even though each architect in various parts of the world is trying to create a new spectacular project that will bring their creativity and hard work tons of appreciation. The meaning and idea of sustainable development now and for the future, has been dispensed and applied in each project broadly, with the excessive amount of beauty, extravaganza, and breath-taking designs that have been put forth in front of the world. To end this blog, I would like to share a quote that has deep meaning and is motivating.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” By Peter Drucker
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