Image via Complex Original
From August 2007 to May 2010, Kanye West kept us up to date on the hottest people in art, photography, architecture, fashion, tech, and cars with his KanyeUniverseCity blog. For now, the rap superstar has stopped blogging, but he still shows his appreciation for art and design. Kanye just asked Peter Saville to design a logo for him, and he named Le Corbusier as an inspiration for Yeezus. Even his Minimalist apartment shows a keen eye for architecture. Get to know some of Kanye's earlier influences with 15 Architects We Discovered on the KanyeUniverseCity Blog.
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Sami Rintala
Date posted: March 22, 2008
With a focus on narrative and conceptualism, this Finnish architect has an extremely distinct style. Kanye's old blog shows off Rintala's Element House, an architectural beauty that aims to harness the four elements of nature into one building.
Website
Moshe Safdie
Date posted: April 3, 2008
In a 2002 TED Talk, Canadian-Israeli architect Moshe Safdie stated that he associates everything that is beautiful with humanity and believes that the reason things are aesthetically pleasing is because we see components of ourselves in them. Naturally, that leads to an amazing architectural style and understanding. Kanye's blog included a post dedicated to the Crystal Bridges art museum that Safdie designed for the heiress of Walmart. The building is composed of wood and glass and is larger than 35,000 square feet.
Website
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Date posted: April 14, 2008
This firm embraces the modern architectural appeal of all glass everything. The architects designed an entirely glass terminal for the Shenzen Bao'an International Airport. This pair has accomplished so much internationally, it's no wonder Kanye featured them on his blog.
Website
Neil Denari
Date posted: January 13, 2008 and May 1, 2008
Denari is an all-American architect. Born in Texas, he lived in New York and LA and got a Masters from Harvard. His impressive HL23 Building in New York utilizes the little space he was given to its maximum extent, folding in on itself creatively and gracefully. His style becomes progressively more modern with the Useful + Agreeable house that looks kind of like a giant toaster.
Website
Michel Rojkind
Date posted: November 10, 2007
Rojkind is one of the most creative architects out there right now, and he actively seeks to redefine the geometry of buildings. He is renown for the Nestlé Chocolate Museum that's located in Toluca, Mexico. This building received the International Architecture Award in 2008. His inspiration for the building was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
10. Rem Koolhaas
Date posted: May 26, 2008 and April 29, 2009
Koolhaas is one of the most well-known architects on this list. In 2008, he made Time Magazine's list of The World's 100 Most Influential People. He's also won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Kanye's blog loved Koolhaas' works that play with planes and angles.
Website
Marcio Kogan
Date posted: May 14, 2009
Kogan is a Brazil-based architect who makes his buildings all about natural light and emotion. He usually builds luxury homes, and he designed the Panama house to show off the family's art collection. He kept certain pieces in mind while creating each space. The result is astounding.
Emmanuel Combarel and Dominique Marrec
Date posted: March 21, 2009 and June 7, 2009
These Parisian architects are well-known for their project where they created an apartment that has a room suspended directly in the center, designed for the slim, yet tall space. Kanye's blog also featured the RATP Bus Centre by this pair. It has the perfect mixture of colors, glass, and steel to feel modern but comfortable.
Bernard Tschumi
Date posted: July 8, 2009
Tschumi built the new Acropolis museum in Athens that houses ancient artifacts. The building is intentionally non-monumental so not to overshadow the collection. This certainly is an awesome building that incorporates ancient Greece and modern Greece perfectly.
Hiroshi Sambuichi
Date posted: July 9, 2009
Sambuichi's Glass Roof House aims to feel like a part of nature while providing the same luxuries a normal home would. For example, the glass floor has rocks underneath to mirror the ground outdoors. We love this harmonious style.
Website
Tadao Ando
Date posted: January 3, 2008
Kanye's blog showed off Tadao Ando's building that houses the optical waterfall glass bar designed by Tokujin Yoshioka. Ando loves integrating water into various aspects of his buildings, so this collaboration was a perfect fit. The surrounding building is just as innovative and modern.
Website
Takao Shiotsuka
Date posted: March 22, 2009
Takao Shiotsuka is a minimalist Japanese architect. KanyeUniverseCity showed off his garden and sea house, which is essentially a large cube that sits in the middle of a walled compound and overlooks the sea. Shiotsuka's minimalist style shines through in every aspect of this building from the simple structure to the stark white color.
Thiago Bernardes and Paulo Jacobsen
Date posted: April 19, 2009
This Brazil-based architecture firm makes some of the most exotic dream houses. The AMB home in particular was featured on Kanye's blog. It is located among the trees in the Atlantic Forest and is currently used as a summer home.
Website
Kurokawa Kisho
Date posted: July 18, 2009
The ultra-futuristic Nakagin Capsule Tower by Kisho is located in one of Tokyo's busiest neighborhoods. The building has a cubist feel and was designed by the late architect in the 1970s. It is 14 stories tall and made up of 140 individual cubes, each of which acts as an apartment or office space. Kisho is known as one of the founders of the Metabolist Movement, a postwar movement that reintegrated organic shapes into architecture. He is among Japan's most famous architects.
Zaha Hadid
Date posted: November 14, 2009
Zaha Hadid has become a household name in the architecture world. Her success stems from the popularity of her deconstructivist style. Pictured above are her buildings that were featured on Kanye's blog, MAXXI National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, JS Bach Chamber Music Hall, and the Nordpark Cable Railway. Zaha Hadid Architects is located in London and has nearly 1000 projects in 44 different countries.
