THE 30 MOST FAMOUS ARCHITECTS IN HISTORY - ART - 2025

We leave you a compilation of 30 of the most famous architects in history, who for their work left an indelible mark. There are no accurate data on who were the names that sponsored this art but many architects who influenced its development.

Considered one of the branches of art, along with dance, sculpture, music, painting, literature, engraving, photography, theater and film, architecture has a long history in humanity accompanying the development of civilizations almost from their beginnings.

The term that gives rise to his name is the conjunction of the Greek words authority and builder, and Ancient Greece was his birthplace.

Architecture is, according to its theoretical definition, the art and technique of projecting, designing, building and modifying the human habitat. In practice, it translates into the appearance of buildings, monuments and spaces, which make up part of human life.

Top 30 most famous architects in history

1- Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564, Italy)

Original, multifaceted and disruptive, Miguel Ángel was one of the great artists in history. He ventured into different branches of art, all with his own particular stamp, and architecture was no exception.

Among his most outstanding works are the Laurentian Library in Florence, the Capitol Square in Rome and St. Peter's Basilica (papal seat) in the Vatican. In addition, he is the designer of the dome of the Sistine Chapel.

2- Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680, Italy)

It is not clear if there was any influence from Miguen Ángel on his works, but their works were closely related. He was, without a doubt, the most representative figure of the Italian Baroque and marked an entire era of architecture.

Among his most memorable projects is the Plaza and the columns of St. Peter's Basilica or the Cornaro Chapel. In addition, he left a legacy populated by monuments and buildings with imposing and decorative style.

3- Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (1580-1649)

He was the main architect of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Although there are no records of his works, he was considered a builder of world wonders and was recognized as "a tear on the face of eternity."

4- Ictinus (second half of the 5th century BC)

Perhaps he is one of the fathers of architecture, although there is no exact data from the 5th century BC Undoubtedly, his works were fundamental in the development of this art.

The Parthenon, the Telesterion and the Temple of Apollo are his three most recognized works, all with a defined style of columns and entablatures.

5- Callícrates (470 BC-420 BC)

The other Greek teacher. Together with Ictinos they rebuilt the Acropolis of Athens. He had an enormous influence on architectural culture through his works on the Parthenon and other buildings of antiquity.

6- Bonanno Pisano (1150-1200)

While there are controversies as to whether he was actually the architect on the Tower of Pisa project, there is no doubt that he was involved in its construction.

Defender of Byzantine art and classical antiquity, the door of the inclined cathedral is his authorship and in its bronze panels he narrates in twenty-four scenes the main episodes of the life of Christ.

7- William Morris (1834-1896)

Creative and stubborn in his ideas, Morris was the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement that totally rejected industrial production, promoting a return to craftsmanship as a way of developing his works. The Red House is his most admired work.

8- Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926)

One of the geniuses who died without seeing completed his most important work: La Sagrada Familia (it is expected to be complete in 2026). However, its existence can be felt in all the architecture of the city of Barcelona, ​​in which it left dozens of buildings and monuments.

Defender of modernism, he was elusive to straight lines, he had a style in which details, color, textures and shapes abound, all within a concept. Casa Batlló and Parc Güell are two of his most recognized (completed) works.

9- Walter Gropius (1883-1969)

Creator of one of the most influential movements of modernity, the Bauhaus school, Gropius was convinced of rationalization and believed in the necessary conjunction of aesthetics and use.

"Form follows function", said the German architect who marked an entire era. The PanAm Tower is perhaps his best known work, which responds to a sober style without ornaments, something that he considered unnecessary.

10- Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

A militant of pure and clean lines, Le Corbusier is another of the modern architecture theorists. In addition to his built works, he left a vast theoretical legacy.

He believed in the possibility of changing the world with architecture, which he considered a machine to generate beauty. Something that in practice solved mostly with reinforced concrete as an ally and the implementation of open spaces.

In turn, he developed his own system of measurements, called "Le Modulor", which was based on the dimensions of the human body. His masterpieces are Villa Savoye, Poissy and the Notre Dame du Haut chapel.

11- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)

The influence of van der Rohe is not less in relation to the aforementioned architects. Also part of the Bauhaus and in an advanced style for his time, this German genius was a strict rationalist.

Marble, iron and glass were the favorite elements for his works. The Seagram building in New York, the Farnsworth House and the German Pavilion in Barcelona, ​​are his main works.

12- Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923)

Although Eiffel was not an architect, it is impossible to avoid him in this list because of the influence that his work as a civil engineer had on the following generations of architects.

His concepts in the structure were decisive for a way of conceiving the bridges, but he will always be remembered for being the creator of the Eiffel Tower. This monument was strongly rejected by Parisian society after its construction in 1889, but today it is one of the symbols of the city of light.

13-

"Minimalism in all its expression" is the most accurate definition for Wright's work. Pursuer of a pure style, this architect sought great visual transparency, leaving spaces for the passage of light, which gave sensations of spaciousness.

His great objective was to differentiate closed spaces from defined spaces, with a particular way of structure, which gave a unique style to his works such as the Fallingwater House and the Kaufmann House.

14- Frank Owen Gehry (1929)

Innovative, original and special, for Gehry architecture was an art and as such each building had to be a work of art, similar to a painting, a sculpture or a drawing.

His creation knew no limits, he used all kinds of materials, structures, shapes and colors. He could build with irregularities and unbalanced planes, to give expressive life to each job.

He has a variety of works with his stamp, among which the following stand out: Frank Gehry House (California), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), Marqués de Riscal Hotel (El ciego, Spain), Dancing House (Prague) or the DG Bank Building (Berlin).

15- Jorn Utzon (1918 - 2008)

Utzon was the creator of the Sydney Opera House, one of the most iconic buildings in the world. Defender of a monumental style, he always sought to adapt his works to the environment that surrounds him.

16-

Perhaps the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona is the work that best describes his style: clear, harmonious, with straight lines, spaces, light and an abundance of white.

A confessed admirer of Le Corbusier and Lloyd Wright, Meier reflects that influence in his works.

17- César Pelli (1926-)

Pelli is one of the most recognized architects today. Linked to teaching and research, his works stand out around the world.

His works include the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which between 1998 and 2003 were the tallest building in the world.

18- Mario Palanti (1885-1978)

Perhaps his name is surprising, but this Italian architect is responsible for two emblematic works in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, one of which (the Barolo Palace) was known to be the tallest building in Latin America at the beginning of the 20th century.

A lover of the neo-Gothic style, Palanti was in charge of the construction of the Barolo Palace in the Argentine capital and the Salvo Palace in the Uruguayan capital.

They are two twin buildings, inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Both have a powerful reflector in their dome and are made with opposite orientations, as if they were looking at each other. The funny thing is that Palanti took the plans with him and they never appeared.

19-

Johnson has a masterpiece, which is also his graduation project and his home. This architect built the Glass House, an entirely iron structure, without concrete walls and covered entirely with glass, as if it were a large window.

twenty-

He studied in the United States and acquired American nationality, where he has developed his entire career. She has works all over the world and in all of them her style of pure lines and functional efficiency can be recognized, inspired by the Groupis criteria and the “international style”.

Cement, glass, steel, abstract shapes and an original ability to create effects are the hallmarks of the original Pei. Among his works, the pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris stands out.

21- Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012)

An admirer of Le Corbusier, this Brazilian architect carried out a hundred works in his career but stands out for having been responsible for the design of an entire city: Brasilia, the capital of his country since 1960.

Niemeyer based his career on reinforced concrete, a material that he used in most of his works and to which he attributed great versatility to shape his works.

22-

Foster is modernity, for giving his works a touch that represents the changes that the planet has experienced in recent decades. The Collserola communications tower in Barcelona is an example of this.

23- Rafael Viñoly (1944-)

This architect has works and designs around the world, but his fame lies in the controversy of his concave glass designs, which cause a magnifying glass effect on the inside and outside that produce a large increase in temperature.

The reflection of the solar rays in the buildings of Viñoly generated burns in people, melting of automobile parts and even an experiment was carried out in which a fried egg was cooked in one of its buildings.

24- Jean Nouvel (1945-)

He is one of the most successful architects of today, with worldwide recognition for his work. One of his most outstanding works is the modern Torre Agbar building in Barcelona.

25- Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)

His fame lies in being the developer of the geodesic dome, a structure made up of polygons, such as triangles and hexagons, whose vertices all coincide on the surface of a sphere. This shape inspired the name of the carbon molecules known as fullerenes.

That was the main contribution to the architecture of Fuller, who also stood out for his works and for his philosophy about the limited resources of the world, which led him to find a way to do more with less.

26- Kengo Kuma (1954-)

"My goal is to recover the space", says this Asian architect about his style, in which he seeks to combine contemporary Japanese minimalism with simple and pure designs.

His mission in each job is to relate the work to the nature that surrounds it. The Vancouver Tower is one of her most outstanding works.

27- Louis Kahn (1901-1974)

A follower of the ideas of Le Corbusier, this Estonian-born but American-based architect was the first to build a structure in which the light and air conditioning ducts were exposed, in the Art Gallery for the University of Yale.

Kahn defined his work as "reflective construction of spaces" and recognized the influences that ancient ruins, monumentality, monolithism and timelessness had on his works. Besides being an architect, he was a teacher and left a long legacy of writings and works.

28- Glenn Murcutt (1936-)

Owner of a simple and primitive style, he works alone in his studio, something rare in architecture. Mies Van der Rohe is one of his main influences and his works reflect that intention of incorporating the natural context that surrounds them.

His work is almost entirely done in his country, where he has worked on different residential projects with a style full of local craftsmanship and sensitivity.

He describes himself as one of the few architects with a love for humanity, defines his work as a way of thinking and believes that: “Architecture must be an answer. Not an imposition ”.

29- Zaha Hadid (1950-2016)

Perhaps the most famous female architect. Despite her Iraqi origin, she made most of her career in England. Coming from the deconstructivist current, Hadid was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize, one of the most important in the discipline.

His works do not understand straight lines and are unpredictable, which marks an original style throughout his career. His works include the Corones Mountain Museum, the Rosenthal Contemporary Art Center, the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center and the Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza.

30- Diébédo Francis Kéré (1965-)

The importance of this African architect does not lie in the majesty of his works, but in the originality of his career.

Born in the Gando community, he studied architecture in Germany and after graduating he decided to return to his hometown to promote the development of his country, combining his knowledge with the construction methods used there. Thus it has built schools, parks, health centers and spaces for containment.