James Hoban - The White House, Washington

Probably the most recognizable building in the world, the White House was designed by Irish James Hoban.

In the late 1770’s Hoban submitted a plan for the design of the presidential mansion. He won the commission and construction began in 1793. The mansion was completed in 1801.The White House, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C, is

constructed from white-painted Aquia sandstone and has been home to every US leader since the country's second president John Adams.

Leandro LocsinLeandro Locsin (1928-1994) was in some

ways a quintessential Renaissance man. A brilliant architect, interior designer, artist and classically trained pianist, Locsin was also a keen art collector, amassing a sizable collection of fine Chinese art and ceramics during his lifetime. It is for his buildings, however, that he is remembered. From airport terminals to memorial chapels, arts centers to stock exchange structures, Locsin left his mark on the urban landscape of the Philippines.Locsin was determined to reconfigure western architectural mores for a Filipino audience. His most substantial contribution to Filipino architecture is the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a collection of

five buildings that demonstrate the architect’s drive to find a vernacular form of modernist architecture. The National Theatre building within the complex is a good example of Locsin’s trademark style. Known as ‘floating volume’. it consists of a two-floor-high block of travertine marble cantilevered 12 feet into the air. The theatre harks back to traditional Filipino dwelling huts, but on a monumentally modern scale.Despite the wide range of buildings Locsin created, all of them have one thing in common: concrete. His ability to make this most monolithic of materials appear weightless, and to elegantly combine Western brutalism with vernacular elements, led Locsin’s peers to dub him the ‘poet of space’.

FRANCISCO MAÑOSAFrancisco ‘Bobby’ Mañosa has been challenging architectural convention in his native country for five decades. He displayed an artistic temperament from an early age and remained a keen painter throughout his life. Along with his three brothers, Mañosa eventually chose to pursue architecture, and before long became the ‘outspoken champion of indigenous architecture’, popularizing the idea of Philippine architecture for Filipinos.Mañosa’s distinctive style, known as Contemporary Tropical Filipino Architecture, is a heady mixture of seemingly incongruous elements. Coconut lumber, rattan, shell, thatch and even indigenous textiles are

juxtaposed with hypermodern materials: metal, glass, concrete. The Coconut Palace at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex typifies Manosa’s style. Its coconut gourd roof, coconut shell chandelier and pineapple fiber bedcovers are infused with technological innovation for the modern era. In 2009 Mañosa was designated a National Artist in Architecture.

 Tom Wright Is it possible to become one of the greatest modern architects of our time if you are only noted for one building? When the building is the most recognizable hotel in Dubai, yes. British architect, Tom Wright is responsible for the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. Acclaimed for its luxurious amenities as a hotel and also one of the most recognizable buildings in modern architecture. Noted with the world’s tallest atrium, and equipped with its own helicopter landing pad and tallest tennis court at the top, Tom Wright definitely deserves to join the list of great modern architects.

Tom Wright’s Burj Al Arab in Dubai

Tom Wright’s – helipad is also the worlds highest tennis court