Portugal
Álvaro Siza
Álvaro Siza
Precise interventions that respond to the complexity of a place.
Read the profileGAD / PEOPLE
The people. The ideas. The work.
Explore 20 architect profiles, design approaches, documented roles and primary sources in the independent GAD reference library.
An editorial reference selection, including historical figures. Directory order is alphabetical by English name and is not a ranking. Individual roles and joint authorship are stated in each profile.
United Kingdom
David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield Architects
Public buildings shaped by continuity, restraint and historical responsibility.
Read the profileUnited States
Frank Gehry
Gehry Partners
Sculptural form developed through material and technical experimentation.
Read the profileJapan
Kazuyo Sejima
SANAA / Kazuyo Sejima & Associates
Architecture organised around openness and relationships between people.
Read the profileJapan
Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma & Associates
Materials and texture mediating between buildings and their surroundings.
Read the profileChina
Liu Jiakun
Jiakun Architects
Public life and local realities as the starting point for architecture.
Read the profileChina
Lu Wenyu
Amateur Architecture Studio
Craft, heritage and contemporary life brought into one architectural practice.
Read the profileChina
Ma Yansong
MAD Architects
Urban architecture shaped by landscape and emotional experience.
Read the profileUnited Kingdom
Norman Foster
Foster + Partners
Technology and structure in the service of adaptable buildings.
Read the profileSwitzerland
Peter Zumthor
Atelier Peter Zumthor
Architecture understood through material presence and sensory atmosphere.
Read the profileNetherlands
Rem Koolhaas
OMA / AMO
Architecture informed by writing, urban observation and programmatic invention.
Read the profileItaly
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
A builder’s attention to light, components and how public buildings work.
Read the profileUnited Kingdom
Richard Rogers
Piano + Rogers / Richard Rogers Partnership / RSHP
An architectural legacy of visible systems and generous civic space.
Read the profileJapan
Riken Yamamoto
Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop
Testing where private life meets a wider community.
Read the profileJapan
Ryue Nishizawa
SANAA / Office of Ryue Nishizawa
Buildings conceived as connected landscapes of everyday activity.
Read the profileJapan
Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban Architects
Material invention connecting cultural buildings with disaster relief.
Read the profileJapan
Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Concrete walls that make light, wind and movement tangible.
Read the profileJapan
Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
Structural experiments that loosen the boundaries of public space.
Read the profileChina
Wang Shu
Amateur Architecture Studio
Contemporary architecture grounded in craft and cultural memory.
Read the profileUnited Kingdom
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid Architects
A legacy of spatial invention, from experimental drawings to public buildings.
Read the profile