He hails from the land of tea and crumpets, but Nigel Coates first found success in a country better known for sushi and sake. But though Japan was the first to embrace his futuristic, semi-permanent "pop" stylings, it wasn't long before his buttoned-down countrymen recognized Coates' avant-garde vis

Eclectic, Fantastic, Pop, Postmodern architecture, Quirky, Round

"The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects." Adolf Loos was deeply concerned about the state of architecture in turn-of-the-century Austria. Loos objected to the Art Nouveau movement -- with its stress on the personal and the decorative, and its rejection o

Classical, Minimal, Spare, Vienna secession furniture

A child of Modernism, Ettore Sottsass elevated the structures of design to new intellectual and philosophical levels. After receiving an architectural degree from the Polytechnic in Turin, Sottsass opened his own design studio, where he dabbled in furniture, sculptural projects, and the fine and appl

Excessive, Geometric, Hi-tech, Layered, Pop/surrealism/anti-design, Round

At the forefront of architectural design since beginning his practice in 1964, Michael Graves can be counted among such architectural heavyweights as Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, and Charles Gwathmey. Graves' work has diverted the evolution of urban architecture away from Modernist abstraction and to

Bubblicious, Clean, Five architects, Minimal, Postmodern architecture, Smart, Spare