Celebrating 125 Years: The Past
RECORD’s Top 125 Buildings: 76-100
National Museum of Roman Art | 1986 | Mérida, Spain | Rafael Moneo
Photo © Guzmán Lozano/ Creative Commons
SESC Pompéia | 1982 | São Paulo | Lina Bo Bardi
The brilliance is in taking over the old factory to develop a social services and recreation facility for members of the union. Instead of tearing down a classic steel structure, she chose to modify and expand it with two towers. Along with the factory sheds, the complex is turned into an extraordinarily active social village. This is Bo Bardi’s greatest work.
—Anthony Vidler
Photo © Pedro Kok
Menil Collection | 1986 | Houston | Piano & Fitzgerald Architects
Photo © Piano & Fitzgerald/courtesy Fondazione Renzo Piano
Church of the Light | 1989 | Osaka, Japan | Tadao Ando Architect and Associates
Photo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Therme Vals | 1996 | Vals, Switzerland | Peter Zumthor
Photo © Global Image Creation, courtesy 7132 Hotel and Vals
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao | 1997 | Bilbao | Gehry Partners
One of the earliest monumental expressions of computer-aided design, the Guggenheim Bilbao breaks nearly every rule in the book. It’s compositionally messy. It is extravagantly wasteful of space and materials. But it works, because the composition of the volumes, the management of spatial, processional, and visual axes are wonderfully inflected to the site. —Sarah Williams Goldhagen
Photo © David M. Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium | 1997 | Nakatsu, Japan | Maki and Associates
Photo © Toshiharu Kitajima/courtesy Maki and Associates
Zubizuri Bridge | 1997 | Bilbao | Santiago Calatrava
Photo © Tony Hisgett/Creative Commons
Jewish Museum | 1999 | Berlin | Studio Libeskind
Photo © Bitter Bredt Fotografie/courtesy Studio Libeskind
Petronas Towers | 1999 | Kuala Lumpur | Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Photo © Jeff Goldberg/ESTO
Gallery of Horyuji Treasures | 1999 | Tokyo | Yoshio Taniguchi
This building epitomizes the grace and elegance of contemporary Japanese architecture. You approach the building through a contemplative pond, and then it reveals itself layer by layer. It holds treasures from one of the most important Buddhist temples of Japan, but it’s as much about the process of getting there as being in the presence of these holy objects. There’s a sense that you’re making a transition from a mundane, secular world to one worthy of these venerated artifacts. The exquisite materials and attention to detailing are Taniguchi’s signature. —Naomi Pollock
Photo © Wikimedia user Kakidai/Creative Commons
Diamond Ranch High School | 2000 | Pomona, California | Morphosis
Photo © Kim Zwarts
Rose Center for Earth and Space | 2000 | New York | Polshek Partnership
Photo courtesy Library of Congress
KKL Luzern | 2000 | Lucerne, Switzerland | Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Photo courtesy KKL Luzern, Switzerland
Tate Modern I and II | 2001 & 2016 | London | Herzog & de Meuron
Photo © Iwan Baan/courtesy Herzog & de Meuron Basel
Sendai Mediatheque | 2001 | Sendai, Japan | Toyo Ito & Associates
Photo courtesy Sendai Mediatheque
Jubilee Church | 2003 | Rome | Richard Meier & Partners
Photo © Scott Frances/OTTO
30 St Mary Axe | 2003 | London | Foster + Partners
Photo © Nigel Young/Foster + Partners
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art | 2004 | Kanazawa, Japan | SANAA
Photo courtesy Open Image Data of Kanazawa City
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe | 2004 | Berlin | Eisenman Architects
Photo © Roland Halbe
Millau Viaduct | 2004 | Millau, France | Foster + Partners
Photo © Jean Philippe Arles, courtesy Foster + Partners
Seattle Central Library | 2004 | Seattle | OMA
Photo © Philippe Ruault, courtesy OMA
Chichu Art Museum | 2004 | Naoshima, Japan | Tadao Ando Architect and Associates
Photo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect and Associates
Madrid Barajas International Airport, Terminal 4 | 2005 | Madrid | Richard Rogers Partnership
Photo © Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/Creative Commons
Apple Store, 5th Avenue | 2006 | New York | Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Photo © Peter Aaron, courtesy Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Casa da Musica | 2005 | Porto, Portugal | OMA
Photo © Philippe Ruault, courtesy OMA
To commemorate Architectural Record’s 125th anniversary, our editors have chosen to honor 125 of the most important works of architecture built since the magazine’s founding in 1891. This was not an easy task. We started by polling a group of distinguished critics and scholars for nominations, but the final list is ours. While many inclusions are obvious, others may be surprising, or a little controversial—as are some omissions. And, we know, all 125 might not make the list at RECORD's next big birthday: time inevitably changes not only our tastes, but how we understand history.
Click through the slideshow above, and visit the pages below, to see all the buildings on our list.
