The Architect’s Advent Calendar: 24 Iconic Windows to Count Down to Christmas

Architizer Editors Architizer Editors

“It was the night before Christmas, and all through the Bauhaus…”

December brings with it many familiar things: colder days, longer nights, some pretty extreme weather, and a healthy dose of festive cheer. While some people are already enjoying their Christmas vacation, an architect’s work is never done, and many firms will be working hard to maintain progress on their projects into 2017.

In honor of all you hard working souls, we present you with a traditional treat for this convivial time of year, with an architectural twist. It is fair to say that the 24 windows on your advent calendar would be markedly more exciting to open if they were designed by the following architects — check out these icons of fenestration from the past 100 years as you count down to Christmas:

Window No. 1: Antoni Gaudí

Casa Batlló, Barcelona, Spain (1906)

Via Azur Tour

Window No. 2: Louis Sullivan

National Farmers’ Bank, Owatonna, Minn., United States (1908)

Via Wikipedia

Window No. 3: Frank Lloyd Wright

Robie House, Chicago, Ill., United States (1909)

Via The Huffington Post

Window No. 4: Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld Schröder House, Utrecht, Netherlands (1924)

Via Ella in the NL

Window No. 5: Walter Gropius

Bauhaus Dessau, Dessau, Germany (1926)

Via M–Dash

Window No. 6: Konstantin Melnikov

Melnikov House, Moscow, Russia (1929)

© Natalia Melikova

© Natalia Melikova

Via The Constructivist Project

Window No. 7: Alvar Aalto

Sports Hall for the University of Technology Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (1949)

Via Pinterest

Window No. 8: Mies van der Rohe

Farnsworth House, Plano, Ill., United States (1951)

Rendering by Max Gooday; via CGarchitect

Window No. 9: Le Corbusier

Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France (1954)

Via Colline Notre Dame du Haut

Window No. 10: Eero Saarinen

TWA Terminal, John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, N.Y., United States (1962)

Via LE Miami

Window No. 11: Oscar Niemeyer

Mondadori Palace, Milan, Italy (1975)

© Ezio Beschi; via Flickr

Window No. 12: Carlo Scarpa

Brion Cemetery, San Vito d’Altivole, Treviso, Italy (1978)

Via Wikipedia

Window No. 13: Louis Khan

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh (1982)

Via A Diligent Observer

Window No. 14: Jean Nouvel

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France (1987)

Via Gallery Hip

Window No. 15: Peter Eisenman

Nunotani Corporation Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan (1992)

Via Pinterest

Window No. 16: Frank Gehry

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (1997)

Via Wikipedia

Window No. 17: Rem Koolhaas

Maison à Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (1998)

Via The Modern House

Window No. 18: Daniel Libeskind

Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany (1999)

Via the Architizer database

Window No. 19: Tadao Ando

Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, Osaka, Japan (2001)

Via Pinterest

Window No. 20: Tom Kundig

Chicken Point Cabin, Northern Idaho, United States (2002)

Via Olson Kundig

Window No. 21: Norman Foster

30 St Mary Axe, London, United Kingdom (2003)

Via Urban Splatter

Window No. 22: SANAA

Zollverein School of Management and Design, Essen, Germany (2006)

Via Seier+Seier on Flickr

Window No. 23: Zaha Hadid

Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China (2010)

Via the Architizer database

Window No. 24: Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron

Elbe Philharmonic Hall, Hamburg, Germany (completion planned for 2017)

© Carlos Guerreiro

© Carlos Guerreiro

Via 500px

For more glazed inspiration from contemporary firms across the globe, check out the ever-expanding Architizer database, now.

Read more articles by Architizer

Architecture on the Market: 7 Bold Contemporary Homes in London

This selection of homes displays a range of contemporary London residences, from stand-alone homes to penthouses and remodels. 

Büro Koray Duman on Cultivating “Shock and Surprise” in Architecture

“We were a part of defining the project, not merely the creative problem-solvers.”

+