by Nancy Houser

Created on: July 10, 2011

For over four hundred years, United States architecture has represented a rich and eclectic style, shaped by many diverse factors. A look at top contemporary American architects and their designs within the past 80 years shows a strong link between indoor and outdoor architectural spaces. This link is not only for architectural style, but also for functional purposes.  

The utilization of natural light, large and expansive windows, personal warmth and a strong component of energy efficiency has set contemporary design apart from other architectural periods. Contemporary American architects have placed the United States in the forefront of Western architecture in the late 1800s.

This gave Western civilization a strong lead by the time the early 1900s arrived. From 1930 on, a major exodus of European artists and intellectuals began to migrate to America. However, it was not until after World War II that New York surpassed Paris as the new focal point of contemporary designs.

Contemporary architecture versus modern architecture

A look at the top contemporary American architects and their works is about a movement that uses few ornamental features or the re-use of traditional architectural methods. However, it is the first architectural movement that embraces new building methods, primarily focusing on functionality rather than style.

Even though contemporary buildings are broadly identifiable, other periods of architecture are more easily recognizable due to having similar features. This leaves Contemporary Architecture with a slightly “fractured” look to it, which sets it apart from Modern Architecture. Contemporary architects have now become associated with neo-modernists, expressionists, deconstructivists and post-modernists.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Typically defined as today’s most popular building style, contemporary architecture is unlike that of any other period, yet is often mistaken for modern architecture. The renowned Frank Lloyd Wright is primarily a modern architect, but has been mistakenly labeled as a contemporary architect numerous times.

One of the most influential architects in the 1900s and the most innovative American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas have shaped the contemporary architecture field of today. Architecture has been placed on an entirely new level of thinking because of Wright, with contemporary projects looking simple in design and added functionality, but modern in its architectural form.

Easily the

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