# Underrated Architects



## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

Architects you think have too bad a rap, or aren't represented enough in architectural discussions.

For example

*Ricardo Bofill*
Spanish architect who pioneered postmodernism

Houari Boumedienne Agricultural City, Abadla, Algeria (1980)

























Mullara Roja, Calpe, Spain (1973)

















Pont Juvenal, Montpellier, France (1993)


















The Pyramid, Le Perthus, Spain (1976)

















Les Echelles du Baroque, Paris , France (1985)

















Les Espaces d'Abraxas, Paris, France

















Walden 7, Barcelona, Spain (1975)

































Kafka Castle, Sant Pere de Ribes, Spain (1968)


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## OakRidge (Mar 9, 2007)

*Antonio Barluzzi*


> (26 September 1884 – 14 December 1960) was an Italian architect. He became known as the "Architect of the Holy Land" by creating, among many others, the pilgrimage churches at the Garden of Gethsemane, on Mount Tabor (considered to be the Mount of Transfiguration), on the Mount of Beatitudes (the site of the Sermon on the Mount), and at the tomb of Lazarus. He also restored, giving them a new outlook, several churches and chapels including the Catholic chapel on Calvary, within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Barluzzi


For me his great triumph is the Church of the Transfiguration located on Mount Tabor in Israel. It uses a very particular type of architectural language that can be found in the ruins of 5th century Byzantine churches like Qalb Loze (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalb_Loze) and the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Simeon_Stylites) in Syria.

IL09 2770 Mt-Tabor, Church of the Transfiguration הר תבור by Benjamin, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr
Church of the Transfiguration by BORIS G, on Flickr


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

ThatOneGuy said:


> Architects you think have too bad a rap, or aren't represented enough in architectural discussions.
> 
> For example
> 
> ...


There's a very fine line between tackiness and great, original architecture - this architect crosses it in both directions. :lol: Very interesting stuff, thanks.


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## mapece (May 10, 2013)

I love Bofil. Not everything he did, but la Mulara roja and especially the Walden 7 are stunning works for me.


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## OakRidge (Mar 9, 2007)

*Austen St. Barbe Harrison*


> Austen St. Barbe Harrison (1891–1976) was a British-born architect. While British, Harrison spent most of his career overseas, and mainly in the Middle East. His works include the British Representative's Residence, Amman, the High Commissioner's Residence, Jerusalem, the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, 1935, and Nuffield College, Oxford.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austen_Harrison


One of those architects of the Empire that you rarely hear much about though Harrison's finest work was done in the waning days of British power. His greatest buildings can be found in what was once know as Mandatory Palestine,a geopolitical entity under British administration, carved out of Ottoman Southern Syria after World War I. British civil administration in Palestine operated from 1920 until 1948. Harrison also designed several buildings under the auspices of the British Administration Public Works Department including the central post offices in Jerusalem and Jaffa and the British High Commissioner's Residence & Headquarters.

In my opinion his greatest building is the Rockefeller Museum, known as the Palestine Archaeological Museum when new. It is located in East Jerusalem and currently houses the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority in addition to its large collection of artifacts.

Photo of the Latin inscription set against the Rockefeller Museum, seat of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem by Carole Raddato, on Flickr
Jerusalem, Israel by Peter Musolino, on Flickr
Rockefeller Museum courtyard by Florian Prischl, on Flickr
Rockefeller Museum-4 by Danielme, on Flickr
Rockefeller Museum-1 by Danielme, on Flickr
P1120432 by Ricardo Tulio Gandelman, on Flickr

You can see in the Central Post Office building in Jerusalem the design codes that the British Administration Public Works Department imposed on the architects it employed. The buildings had to be clad in local stone types and "fit" with the city that surrounded it.


Central Post Office Building, Jerusalem [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by VioleTal77 (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

Post Office - Jaffa Street [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by Rimonah Traub (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

Central Post Office, Jerusalem, 2009 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by DiggerDina (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

The British High Commissioner's Residence & Headquarters in Jerusalem was designed to remind all who visited or gazed upon the building that it was the British who held power and imposed order on the land. 

The building now serves as the headquarters for the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) which oversees the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDFO) on Israel's border with Syria, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).



> The British High Commissioner's headquarters - known in Hebrew as Armon Hanatziv, the name adopted for the adjacent neighborhood - is one of the most elegant and monumental buildings in the country. Architects and scholars also view it as one of the most successful 20th century buildings in Israel. Why? Perhaps because it demonstrates a marvelous encounter between British architect Austen St. Barbe Harrison (1892-1976 ), who was inspired by regional building traditions, and the colonial ideology of the British Empire. Harrison succeeded in producing precise modern architecture with a local air, a building that looked both to the past and the future.
> read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/leisure/a-colonial-room-with-a-view-of-jerusalem-1.426193


Government House by Mark Polane, on Flickr
103_0623 by Neal Ungerleider, on Flickr
























































http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/leisure/a-colonial-room-with-a-view-of-jerusalem-1.426193

If you have JSTOR access I would suggest checking out "Representing Mandatory Palestine: Austen St. Barbe Harrison and the Representational Buildings of the British Mandate in Palestine, 1922-37", authored by Ron Fuchs and Gilbert Herbert. Give gives a good overview of Mandatory architecture in general and the buildings of Harrison in particular.


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## mapece (May 10, 2013)

I'm tempted to mention Carlo Scarpa. He's certainly not unknown, but I feel that he should be celebrated as one of the greatest modern architets, much more that a lot of much more famous names.
One of the great poets of architecture.









Different style, but another architect with a real sense of poetry is Kazuo Shinohara. In japan is not underrated at all, but in the west I don't hear his name frequently.










My problem with him is that I feel that he made houses like austhere works of art, more than places for a living. But at least aesthetically even if usually I'm not into minimalistic stuff (besides Barragan and few others) I find his work absolutely fascinating.

For a completely different reason I really like Laurie Baker, but what I admire in him is not the spectacularity of his work but especially his ethic, that should be taken as a model all around the world.


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## fidalgo (Mar 10, 2007)

Henning Larssen

Rintala / Eggertson

Nico van der Meulen

Tatiana Bilbao

Frederico Valsassina

Michel Rojkind


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

Marcel Iancu, designer of many 1930s constructivist buildings in Bucharest, Romania


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## JMGA196 (Jan 1, 2013)

Albert Speer, Hitler's favorite architect.


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

JMGA196 said:


> Albert Speer, Hitler's favorite architect.


Haha, I just noticed the Hitler face in the middle


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## Zaz965 (Jan 24, 2015)

tokyo ito and associates








http://www.*************/features/toyo-ito--associates/tods-omotesando/

shigeru ban








http://www.archdaily.com/office/shigeru-ban-architects

louis kahn

















https://www.yatzer.com/even-brick-wants-be-something-louis-kahn/slideshow/9


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

alexandru.mircea said:


> There's a very fine line between tackiness and great, original architecture - this architect crosses it in both directions. :lol: Very interesting stuff, thanks.


I've grown to like his stuff! Especially since discovering his Espaces Abraxas in Noisy (which are not featured in the OP). 

A mention for the baroque architect *Pierre Puget* who, to me at least, is almost just as good as the Italian greats he emulated, but who is almost completely unknown. His English wiki page doesn't even mention any of his buildings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Puget


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## AbidM (Apr 12, 2014)

Louis Kahn is well known in the architectural world.


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