James Hoban - The White House, Washington

Probably the most recognizable building in

the world, the White House was designed by
Irish James Hoban.
In the late 1770s Hoban submitted a plan
for the design of the presidential mansion.
He won the commission and construction
began in 1793. The mansion was completed
in 1801.The White House, located at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C, is
constructed from white-painted Aquia
sandstone and has been home to every US leader since the
country's second president John Adams.

Leandro Locsin
Leandro Locsin (1928-1994) was in some ways a quintessential Renaissance man. A brilliant
architect, interior designer, artist and classically
trained pianist,

Locsin was also a keen art collector, amassing a

sizable

collection of fine Chinese art and ceramics during his

lifetime. It is for his buildings, however, that he is
remembered. From airport terminals to memorial
chapels, arts centers to stock exchange structures,
Locsin left his mark on the urban landscape of the
Philippines.
Locsin was determined to reconfigure western architectural mores
for a Filipino audience. His most substantial contribution to Filipino

architecture is

the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a collection of five

buildings

that demonstrate the architects drive to find a

vernacular

form of modernist architecture. The National Theatre

building

within

the

complex is a good example of Locsins trademark

style. Known as floating volume. it consists of a two-floor-high block of travertine marble

cantilevered 12 feet into the air. The theatre harks back to traditional Filipino dwelling huts, but on a
monumentally modern scale.
Despite the wide range of buildings Locsin created, all of them have one thing in common: concrete.
His ability to make this most monolithic of materials appear weightless, and to elegantly combine
Western brutalism with vernacular elements, led Locsins peers to dub him the poet of space.

FRANCISCO MAOSA

Francisco Bobby Maosa has been challenging

architectural convention in his native country for five
decades. He displayed an artistic temperament from an
early age and remained a keen painter throughout his
life. Along with his three brothers, Maosa eventually
chose to pursue architecture, and before long became
the outspoken champion of indigenous architecture,
popularizing the idea of Philippine architecture for
Filipinos.
Maosas distinctive style, known as Contemporary
Tropical Filipino Architecture, is a heady mixture of
seemingly incongruous elements. Coconut lumber,
rattan, shell, thatch and even indigenous textiles are
juxtaposed with hypermodern materials: metal, glass, concrete. The Coconut
Palace at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex typifies Manosas style.
Its coconut gourd roof, coconut shell chandelier and pineapple fiber bedcovers are
infused with technological innovation for the modern era. In 2009 Maosa was
designated a National Artist in Architecture.

Tom Wright
Is

for

pad and
the list

it possible to become one of the greatest modern architects of our

time if you are only noted for one building? When the building is
the most recognizable hotel in Dubai, yes. British architect, Tom
Wright is responsible for the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. Acclaimed
its luxurious amenities as a hotel and also one of the most
recognizable buildings in modern architecture. Noted with the
worlds tallest atrium, and equipped with its own helicopter landing
tallest tennis court at the top, Tom Wright definitely deserves to join
of great modern architects.

Tom Wrights Burj Al Arab in Dubai

Tom Wrights helipad is also the worlds highest tennis

court