Perrault found national reknown in the 1980’s when he won the competition to design the French Nation Library. His design for the library is breathtaking and illustrative of his immense capabilities. Even more-so, the library is an excellent representation of what seems to be his vision: designing modern architecture that always looks forward, and uses cutting edge technologies along with a desire to implement the surrounding areas into the design of the building and using geometric symmetry to draw the line of sight where he desires notice. Perrault has an ability to find a truly new way to look upon generic buildings. His company takes on challenging projects and plants its flag at the forefront of modern architecture.

This is the Gateway Transit Village it was designed by Meltzer/Mandl Architects, P.C.. It is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This building was completed in June of 2012 and cost about $136,000,000 to complete. This building was designed for Somerset Housing, Urban Renewal Assoc. LLC, New Brunswick Development Corp.. It is 630,000 GSF, and is so beautiful. It is just so pretty and eye catching.

By: Blayne Nichols

Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler Associates, is located in Shanghai, China. It is 632 meters tall and is China’s tallest building. It has a centralized structure and an outer glass shell. The shell has a 120 degree twist from the base to the top. The building was built with sustainability in mind. The main focus was light pollution, 87% of the outside of the building is constructed of glass. The recommendation for low light pollution is 70%, so they constructed the glass in layers to bring the reflectiveness of the glass to 12%. This made the building very efficient at absorbing the sunlight and not reflecting it onto the surrounding city. Shanghai Tower is a symbol of sustainability and conservation.

Dominque Perrault’s hyper modern, tech forward vision seems to find a perfect home in large, highly visible projects. The Blade is designed as a rhomboid prism, such that it will look differently from any angle at which you look at it. It uses light and perception to effectively create the appearance of many building all in one.

Outside of the incredible aesthetics of the architecture, it is also forward looking as a center of business surrounded by housing, rather than being in an explicitly business focused location.

Rem Koolhaas likes to break from right angles in his work. This museum in Seoul displays that as it seems to twist. From the flat top, the overhang drops lower on the left side, but as the overhang comes toward the center, you can see it dropping to the right side. You can even see that the overhang almost touches the ground as it recedes to the background. I am entertained as I look upon the building, following the supporting beams inside that make triangles, and sliding down the line of the overhang, right to left, and finally left to right, seeming tossed around by the shape of the building. It’s a monument that would seemingly take up your field of view if you stood in front of it, but you wouldn’t mind seeing the way the lines are never parallel.

This is the Roscoe C. Brown apartments they were designed by Meltzer/Mandl Architects, P.C.. It is located on Bronx (Bathgate Area), New York. This building was completed back in 2011 and cost around $80,000 to build. This project was a made for Phipps Houses/RCB Associates, LP and is 255,000 GSF. I love how it has the big huge boulder just sitting there. It is something you would not expect to see in the middle of the city and that is why I like this building.

Wow. The first moment your eyes set sight on this design, you know you are in the presence of greatness.
As I began my research of Dominique Perrault the National French Library was the first and most prominent thing that came up in the searches. A quick look at his wikipedia page shows dozens upon dozens of projects he has worked on, so what makes this one so special?

I ask you only to look at this image. The symmetry is immediately noticeable, but beyond that this design seems to mirror not only itself, but everything around it. The reflective design of the outter building mimics the colors of the sky around it, enabling the massive contruct to appear almost natural and futuristic all at once. It is designed to contain the knowledge of the people of France, but rather that looking like a container, it appears open and inviting. The design calls out for more. Rather than meerly holding knowledge, as though there is no limit to what it can hold.

This is the design that supposedly lifted Perrault to world fame, and it seems reasonable to me.

This magnificent structure designed by Rem Koolhaas is a reimagining of what a skyscraper really is. Housing the China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters, this building stands out with its raised corner, referred to as “the overhang”. The continuing pattern of steel rhombi climb up the supporting structure until they converge in the largest rhombus of the all. Surrounded by grass in trees below the overhang, it seems as if it is in its own world, and I love the way it is such a drastic change from the surrounding city life.

This is the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art located in Rome, Italy. I wanted to write about this building because it is probably my least favorite of Zaha Hadid’s work. Her other buildings are more interesting and exciting than this one. One of my favorite elements that she incorporates in her work, large windows, is just not present here. Although the building has an interesting shape, it is not as intricate as some others. If I were to see this building without knowing about her other buildings, I would probably appreciate it more.