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List your Top Ten world's most important architectural & engineering feats of the 20th century.


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I know this is an odd request, but this is for a 20th century history project. This would include bridges, churches, memorials, museums, palaces, arenas, monuments, parks, or other structures or projects designed and built between 1900 and 2000. The structure does NOT necessarily need to be still standing or still in existence.

 

Some that have been suggested (in no particular order) are:

 

St. Louis Arch

Levittown

World Trade Center in NYC

Chrysler Building

Walt Disney World

Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)

Empire State Building

Sydney Opera House

Dubai Mall

Seagram Building

Boulder Dam

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Louvre Pyramid

Petronas Towers

 

Which, if any, of these would you include in your Top Ten list? What would you add to the list? Please give reasons for your choices. Thank you so much!

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I am not sure what I would put on the list, but your post made me think of the DVD from The Great Courses - Understanding the World's Greatest Structures: Understanding Science and Innovation from Antiquity to Modernity.

My DS is going through the DVD series currently and absolutely loving it!

If you look at their website, you can move your cursor over the lecture and see what structures are discussed. I know they included some bridges that I had never heard of but that are important for various reasons.

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I would emphatically not include the original World Trade Center on any list of great architectural accomplishments. Furthermore, as far as I know it didn't really break any important engineering ground, either, but I could be wrong about that. And I think it's way too early to pass judgment on the new one.

 

I would include the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. IMO, it was truly a landmark in memorial design -- so different than traditional war memorials, but yet has become so beloved and influential.

 

I would include the Channel Tunnel, too.

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