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Celebrating 125 Years: The Past

RECORD’s Top 125 Buildings: 76-100

Top 125 Buildings

National Museum of Roman Art | 1986 | Mérida, Spain | Rafael Moneo

Photo © Guzmán Lozano/ Creative Commons

Top 125 Buildings

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

Top 125 Buildings

Menil Collection | 1986 | Houston | Piano & Fitzgerald Architects

Photo © Piano & Fitzgerald/courtesy Fondazione Renzo Piano

Top 125 Buildings

Church of the Light | 1989 | Osaka, Japan | Tadao Ando Architect and Associates

Photo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Top 125 Buildings

Therme Vals | 1996 | Vals, Switzerland | Peter Zumthor

Photo © Global Image Creation, courtesy 7132 Hotel and Vals

Top 125 Buildings

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 

Top 125 Buildings

Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium | 1997 | Nakatsu, Japan | Maki and Associates

Photo © Toshiharu Kitajima/courtesy Maki and Associates 

Top 125 Buildings

Zubizuri Bridge | 1997 | Bilbao | Santiago Calatrava

Photo © Tony Hisgett/Creative Commons

Top 125 Buildings

Jewish Museum | 1999 | Berlin | Studio Libeskind

Photo © Bitter Bredt Fotografie/courtesy Studio Libeskind 

Top 125 Buildings

Petronas Towers | 1999 | Kuala Lumpur | Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/ESTO 

Top 125 Buildings

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

Top 125 Buildings

Diamond Ranch High School | 2000 | Pomona, California | Morphosis

Photo © Kim Zwarts

Top 125 Buildings

Rose Center for Earth and Space | 2000 | New York | Polshek Partnership

Photo courtesy Library of Congress

Top 125 Buildings

KKL Luzern | 2000 | Lucerne, Switzerland | Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Photo courtesy KKL Luzern, Switzerland

Top 125 Buildings

Tate Modern I and II | 2001 & 2016 | London | Herzog & de Meuron

Photo © Iwan Baan/courtesy Herzog & de Meuron Basel

Top 125 Buildings

Sendai Mediatheque | 2001 | Sendai, Japan | Toyo Ito & Associates

Photo courtesy Sendai Mediatheque

Top 125 Buildings

Jubilee Church | 2003 | Rome | Richard Meier & Partners

Photo © Scott Frances/OTTO 

Top 125 Buildings

30 St Mary Axe | 2003 | London | Foster + Partners

Photo © Nigel Young/Foster + Partners

Top 125 Buildings

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art | 2004 | Kanazawa, Japan | SANAA

Photo courtesy Open Image Data of Kanazawa City

Top 125 Buildings

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe | 2004 | Berlin | Eisenman Architects

Photo © Roland Halbe

Top 125 Buildings

Millau Viaduct | 2004 | Millau, France | Foster + Partners

Photo © Jean Philippe Arles, courtesy Foster + Partners

Top 125 Buildings

Seattle Central Library | 2004 | Seattle | OMA

Photo © Philippe Ruault, courtesy OMA

Top 125 Buildings

Chichu Art Museum | 2004 | Naoshima, Japan | Tadao Ando Architect and Associates

Photo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect and Associates

Top 125 Buildings

Madrid Barajas International Airport, Terminal 4 | 2005 | Madrid | Richard Rogers Partnership

Photo © Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/Creative Commons

Top 125 Buildings

Apple Store, 5th Avenue | 2006 | New York | Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Photo © Peter Aaron, courtesy Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Top 125 Buildings

Casa da Musica | 2005 | Porto, Portugal | OMA

Photo © Philippe Ruault, courtesy OMA 

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September 1, 2016

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.


1-25    26-50    51-75    101-125

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