“I was excited to find Savannah, Ga. such an interesting city of architecture and urban planning. The municipal squares and street grid subtly favor pedestrians over vehicular traffic. Each major urban square features an ingenious urban planning gesture called the “truss lot”—a double lot reserved for religious or municipal use. These churches and civic buildings become destination points and vertical landmarks.”—John Burke, AIA, Studio27 Architecture, Washington, D.C.
“My favorite is Chicago [below]. It’s like being inside a museum of architecture, with Sullivan, Holabird & Root, Wright, Mies, Harry Weese, Bertrand Goldberg, SOM, Gehry, Koolhaas, and Piano. In a way, modern architecture was invented here.”—Xavier Vendrell, Xavier Vendrell Studio, Chicago/Barcelona, Spain
“Paris combines adventurous new architecture within a great historical context. People respect the old, but they are not afraid of the new. I also like that the average person there has an opinion about architecture. One of my favorite buildings is the Bibliothèque nationale de France [above] by Dominique Perrault —every cab driver not only knows the building but is very proud of and knowledgeable about it.”—John Brown, housebrand, Calgary, Alberta
“São Paulo, Brazil; all the styles live peacefully together. It has an energy unlike any other. A good example is the modernist Ibirapuera Park [right] designed in the early 1950s by architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape artist Burle Marx.”—Márcio Kogan, Márcio Kogan Architects, São Paulo, Brazil