ICONIC Architecture

Brent Kendle | Kendle Design Collaborative

For me, an ICONIC piece of architecture changes those who experience it. ICONIC Architecture inspires new directions in design that are of its time yet endure the test of time because of its thoughtful consideration of place, program and pushing the boundaries of available technology to achieve beauty previously unrealized.

It should receive a cult-like following, not only among architects and designers but also among design-minded members of the general public and those who simply seek beauty. Like ICONIC images of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis Presley, it should be instantly recognizable to millions.

For me, America’s most ICONIC domestic structure is not one, but two residences, polar opposite in their aesthetic, commissioned by the same patron, Edgar Kaufman.

One is Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright. Its design and the media savvy of its patron resurrected Wright’s career, making Wright a household name worldwide and launching the most creative and prolific period of his career. Like images of Monroe, photos of this ICONIC home, growing organically out of the hill and perched above a waterfall as if it has always been there, are recognized by almost everyone, as is Wright’s name, regardless of age or profession.

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It is a home that stretches available structural technology and its patron’s budget to make it feel as if it were an element of nature, an organic form carved by the elements and placed by the hand of God.

The Kaufmann Desert Home by Richard Neutra is equally ICONIC in an entirely different locale amongst the Joshua trees, cactus and endless blue sky of Palm Springs. Its unbroken expanse of glass invites an indoor-outdoor lifestyle and views of gardens and distant vistas, a reflection of the unique California lifestyle.

Its combination of stainless steel with natural stone and wood demonstrates that the most modern of materials can coexist beautifully with the most ancient. This grounding of the home to the earth while expressing the promise and exuberance of the future, like Falling Water, represents the architect at the very pinnacle of his creative genius and beckons thousands of people to make the trek to see it.

Almost 90 years after these ICONIC homes were realized, they continue to set the bar for me and many other architects to attempt to reach. This is what it means to be ICONIC.

Mark Candelaria | Candelaria Design

My favorite and truly ICONIC masterpiece of architecture is Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain.

The Catholic Church started construction in 1882 and is still being worked on, but it is nearly completed. Sagrada Família will be one of the largest completed Catholic Churches in the world. I first visited in 1992 and have returned on every trip to Barcelona!

I first learned of Gaudi and his works while in pre-architecture classes at ASU and I remember thinking that his work was truly different from any other architect I was studying. It was from another world, and I could not wait to see and experience Sagrada Família.

When I first saw the structure in 1992, the main roof wasn’t constructed. Several spires were being installed, which I had the opportunity to climb. The open structure was like staring into an animal’s rib cage. I spent hours exploring and marveling at the creativity and vision of what was yet to be manifested.

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The most recent time I visited was in 2019 when most of the structure was complete. I was able to walk through the nave; it was like walking through the inside of a kaleidoscope, with the beautiful Art Nouveau glass refracting light throughout the spaces.

I am convinced that aliens captured Gaudi and brought him back to Earth to create his unique works, especially Sagrada Família.

C.P. Drewett | Drewett Works

There are two buildings that I genuinely admire. One is Apple Park in California. It sets the gold standard for an office environment. I admire the absolute mastery of restraint. It’s epic and simple and elegant. It’s larger than life and yet quiet as a mouse, all at the same time. It’s a circle … a perfect piece of geometry expressed with just the bare essence of what it needs to be. It has these kinds of gills to feel a breeze inside the air-conditioned building. Also, its energy is net zero.

The other building is 432 Park Avenue in NYC. It’s the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere. It is so clean and restrained but just gorgeous. It’s tough to do something that simple and good. There’s beauty in simplicity. It’s like The Bean sculpture in Chicago. It’s straightforward, yet its silvery reflective surface is so expressive. 432 is gravity-defying.

It shouldn’t work, but the design team was very clever. The building is just a rectangle, and all the windows are rectangular. That’s it. When wind blows on buildings, it makes them bend. To allow the building to stand, they didn’t build out particular floors and just left them as openings. So, the wind blows through them, which enables them to stay upright.

It’s the simplicity of these buildings that appeals to me most. In a world that is not simple, the soothing nature of these structures is calming and soothing.

Mark Tate | Tate Studios

“I’ve been asked many times in my career if I have a specific house or building design in the canon of great architecture that has inspired my work. I’ve always answered the question by relating my love of various good music…how do you pick a favorite song? Some days, I want to listen to Classic Rock; some days, it’s Jazz; some days, it’s the Blues; and occasionally, it’s some spiritual New Age music. The point is that I’m inspired by the real-time context of the moment when a piece of art is created, much more so than the stationary reality of a singular piece of work. For me, that’s true for any work of art, be it architecture, music, sculpture, painting, literature, performing, or film.

I am also far more inspired by bodies of work than individual works. Bodies of work tend to be an incredible catalog of an artist’s dedication to their craft over time and relay their work’s evolutional integrity and honesty.

So, Goff, Rapson, Beadle, Moore, Noguchi, Goo, Armstrong, B.B. King, Kitaro, Hemingway, Led Zeppelin…and of course…the Stones. These artists and their lifelong dedication to their work made a difference in the lives of everyone they touched. At the end of the day…making a meaningful positive difference is what matters.