Iconic Buildings and Structures

Fuji Television Building

Opened: 1990

Futuristically designed, this building has a giant silver ball that appears to hover over the structure. Architect Kenzo Tange designed the ball as an observation tower that is open to the public, and the building's overall look emphasizes Fuji Television's values of space and openness. Kajima engineers used the "Mast Column" construction method, which features four steel-frame pillars supporting each other, symbolic of the consolidation of four group companies that make up Fuji Television.

Lloyd's Building

Opened: 1978

Lloyd's building was designed by Richard Rogers, and is the headquarters of the famous Lloyd's of London insurance intuitions. It has 6 towers, with the staircases, elevators and conduits on the outside of the building to provide a less cluttered feel. Completed in 1986, the building is 289 feet tall with 14 floors.

Beijing National Stadium

Year of Construction: 2007

Commonly recognized as the "Bird's Nest," the Beijing National Stadium is one of the most iconic stadiums in Olympic history. The venue cost $428 million to construct, can hold over 90,000 occupants.

Taipei 101

Year of Construction: 2004

Formally known as Taipei World Financial Center, the Taipei 101 was, at one time, the tallest building in the world. The building's reflects the evolution of Asian design and technology, and it features both indoor and outdoor observation decks.

Design Museum in Holon

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Seattle Central Library

Heydar Aliyev Center

Year of Construction: 2013

Rising from the ground plane, the exterior building envelope is multi-layered, rhythmic and informs the interior spaces of this building in Azerbaijan.

The Barcelona Pavilion

Kunsthaus Graz

Year of Construction: 2003
Gross square footage: 141,007 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: $50 Million

Allianz Arena

Year : 2005
Construction cost: €340 million

Arab World Institute

Floor area : 16,894 m2
Year of Completed : 1987

Milwaukee Art Museum

Year of Construction : 2001
Structure: 217 ft moveable sunscreen
72 steel sensor embedded fins in 26 to 105 ft length
Movement : 3.5 minutes for wings to close and open

The Broad Museum

Area: 120000 ft2
Project year: 2015

Museo Soumaya

Area: 170,000 sq ft
Program: Museum

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Area: 86,574 sqm
Exterior: 45,000 aluminium panels

The Atomium

Cube House, Kubuswoningen

The cube houses (Dutch: Kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest.

Selfridges Department Store

The Birmingham branch of the Selfridges Department Store is covered in 15,000 shiny aluminium discs, giving the building an almost alien-like sheen.

The Taj Mahal

New German Parliament, Reichstag

Project Year: 1999

Watercube

The illuminated facade is based on the natural pattern of bubbles, or a Weaire-Phelan structure.

De Young Museum

Perforated cladding detail

Sagrada Familia

Antonio Gaudi once said "To be original...is to return to the origin..." meaning to return to origin of life, creation in nature. Sagrada Familia (a large Roman Catholic Church) is an extraordinary example of Gaudi's pursuit in designing from nature. Construction began in 1882 and this magnificent structure is slated to finish construction in 2026, 100 years after it began!

Gaudi drew inspirations from forest canopy where he intended to create a forest that invites prayer. Furthermore, tree-like columns branch off near the roof for support, structure he borrowed from studying the Oleander plant and its stem where each "stem" terminates in between skylights containing green and gold glass to reflect light.

Gherkin Tower

This tall office tower stands 200 meters tall, cladded in 24,000 sq.m. of triangular glass panels.

Taking inspiration from the deep sea Venus' Flower Basket sponge and its efficiency in filtering water and nutrients inspired designers of the Gherkin. Gaps in each floor of the building create shafts that sandwich air between the two layers of spiraling glass that encase the building which keeps the Gherkin insulated.

La Pedrera ( Casa Mila )

The exterior of Casa Mila ( commonly referred to as La Pedrera ) presents undulating balconies that look like a series of waves. The iron-wrought balconies were designed by Josep Maria Jujol, who improvised them on the spot. Some people see the facade as a cliff-like rock with caves. During its' construction, people dubbed it a quarry, or "Pedrera" and to date, people still call the building "La Pedrera" rather than "Casa Mila". Talk about freestyle, not one single line exists in this building and it uses no load-bearing walls at all. The roof is probably the most intriguing part of La Pedrera as it features a number of surrealistic colorful chimneys.

Fondation Louis Vuitton

Fashioned like a set of iceberg with sails protruding outward and upward, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is a creation of breath and light. The building rests on a reflecting pool into which pours a waterfall. Its sculptural volumes ( icebergs ) are wrapped in glass veils floating above terraced gardens and rise majestically through the dense foliage of the Bois de Boulogne. The museum itself is a complex structure overpowered by glass sails and constructed mainly of Ductal, an ultra-high-performance concrete. Gehry says the glass structure echoes 19th-century glass garden buildings but it also reveals his obsession with maritime imagery.

King's Cross Station

The 150m long semi-circular vaulted concourse redevelopment of King's Cross Station was completed by London-based architecture firm, John McAslan Partners. Restored old buildings serve as the backdrop to this magnificent ceiling structure. The steel diagrid "grows" from 16 sky-tree columns from the ground, unfurling across the space.

Ennis House

Oculus

One of the most anticipated work post 9/11 must be the Oculus, the World Trade Center major transportation hub. Calatrava used the angle of light where at exactly 10:28 am each September 11th (which was the exact time the North Tower collapsed), a beam of light would pass through the roof and reach all the way down to the center of the Oculus floor. The architect's overall inspiration in terms of design and intent was to symbolize a dove released from a child's hand, which is the over arching form of the Oculus.

The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

This gallery was built to host some of Salvador Dali's work, which arose the challenge of creating a building capable of representing the artist's work while avoiding a too over-the-top aesthetic. They came up with an elegant organic shape, composed of a geodesic triangulation structure made of steel and glass, which encases a sturdy white box capable of defending the artwork from catastrophes such as category 5 hurricanes. The glassworks allow a delicate illumination to come through, not enough to damage the paintings; the pristine white interior emphasizes the artwork.

Antwerp Port House

This project not only renovates a derelict fire station, it also extends and preserves the existing historical structure and repurposes it into the headquarters of the port- which previously had its offices scattered around the city. The port of Antwerp is the biggest in Belgium, and Europe's second largest, making this project an important part of the city.

The location, by water, contributed to the building's low carbon print, as most of the materials employed in the renovation could be transported by water. The complete use of the existing building also contributes to the project's sustainability and was a competition requirement from the start; Hadid's project was deemed by the jury as outstanding in its approach to mixing the existing structure and the new.