Test your design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the renowned British architect known for his modernist and functionalist designs and is best known for his work on the Millennium Dome?
He was born in 1933 in Florence and attended the Architectural Association School in London before graduating from the Yale School of Architecture in 1962.
At Yale, he met fellow student Norman Foster, and upon returning to England, set up his architecture practice with him and their girlfriends, the sisters Georgie and Wendy Cheeseman, and quickly earned a reputation for high-tech industrial design.
The partnership split up in 1967, and on his own, he worked on an early commission for a studio and house for Humphrey Spender near Essex, a glass cube framed with i-beams. His career went forward when he won the design competition for the Pompidou Center in 1971 with Renzo Piano and Peter Rice. The building established his trademark style. Most of the building’s services — water, heating ducts, and stairs on the exterior — are outside, leaving the internal spaces uncluttered.
Since then, he has been known for pioneering buildings like the headquarters for Lloyds in London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and the Millennium Dome.
His architectural firm has designed two major airport passenger terminals: Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport and the New Area Terminal at the Madrid Barajas Airport.
It has also designed high-rise projects in London, a new law court complex in Antwerp, the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, and a hotel and conference center in Barcelona. The practice also has a wealth of experience in urban master planning in London, Lisbon, Berlin, New York, and Seoul.
He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1985 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He was awarded the Sterling Prize for Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport in 2006, and was the winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize.
He was made Baron of Chelsea in 1996 and sits as a Labour Peer in the House of the Lords. He was appointed Companion of Honour in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
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Last week’s question: Who is the French architect and furniture designer who was one of the most influential furniture designers of the early modern movement, introducing innovative aesthetics using manufacture technology and new materials like steel and aluminum?
Answer: Jean Prouve
Winner: Carolyn L. Coquia of San Juan City
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