Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"What I like most is that it's old school. It's not trying to be witty or clever. It doesn't pay homage to other buildings. The building incorporates interesting structural solutions, but they are not the main attraction. It's an exercise in space -- it's sculptural, but beyond a simplistic object." -- Edgar Gonzalez of Brisac Gonzalez
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"I first visited a few years ago on an office trip to Copenhagen, and as I engaged with the building I found it increasingly compelling. It demonstrates how a building can be a contemporary image of its time while remaining grounded in its culture." -- Michael Squire of Squire and Partners
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"One of the most resonant reasons for choosing this bar is its size. It's tiny. We live in a time when buildings are not considered important unless they're big. But this little bar has far more ideas packed into it than all those huge buildings put together." -- Sean Griffiths
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"There is something about Asplund's Law Courts at Gothenburg that confirms that being an architect is really worth the effort. Modern buildings so often seem quite shallow in their thinking. But then you see something like this and are reminded of what architecture at the very highest level can achieve." -- Tim Ronalds of Tim Ronalds Architects
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"Santa Caterina is both civilized and civic, balancing so many priorities: commerce, elderly housing, rubbish, as well as archaeological remains. The combinations of new and old building fabric, logical, simple design and extraordinarily willful elements, the mix of uses, traditional market retail and new technology are something we can all learn from in making our cities." -- Alex Mowat of Mowat & Company
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"I spent my adolescence in Liverpool, like Hamburg, another great port city. My grandfather was a marine engineer for shipping lines trading with the Far East and on the dock road the prows of ships, overshadowing the great 19th century wall, were messengers from a world beyond. Chilehaus has a potent sense of this spirit of mercantile voyaging which appeals to me still." -- Eric Parry of Eric Parry Architects
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"(French architect Fernand Pouillon) made public housing with a bit of swagger, demonstrating the opposite of the mean-spirited and minimum-necessary approach so prevalent in this type of project." -- Adam Khan of Adam Khan Architects
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"There is a real craftsmanship in Jacobsen's architecture which we revel in and aspire to, a finesse in details that takes ages to work out well. Nowadays, there seems to be a polarization between fine art and craft in architecture, but the craft element -- really understanding how you make a building -- should be considered far more." -- Rab Bennetts

(Chosen by Rab and Denise Bennetts of Bennetts Associates)
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"While the building has many qualities, it is perhaps most notable for its ability to link the smallest decorative details, such as the infinitely reflecting engraved glass in the altar, back to address the church and the landscape and city beyond. This creates a building linking heaven and earth that can be said to be genuinely contemplative." -- David Archer of Archer Humphryes Architects
Courtesy Gareth Gardner and Edward Tyler
"Today, I still go to visit the Boijmans quite often. It's a building in which you can wander around and see different things in the architecture every time, and there are very few buildings in which you can do that." -- Hans van der Heijden
"50 Architects 50 Buildings: The Buildings That Inspire Architects" by Twentieth Century Society, edited by Pamela Buxton, is out now.

Story highlights

From the Zollverein Coal Mine in Germany to Lucy the Elephant in the US, a new book examines the buildings that inspire architects

CNN  — 

A well-designed building has the power to inspire those who witness or use the space. But where do architects go when they’re in need of inspiration?

Journalist Pamela Buxton set out to answer the question in “50 Architects 50 Buildings: The Buildings That Inspire Architects.”

In collaboration with the Twentieth Century Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of British 20th-century architecture, Buxton went to 50 top architects – including Pritzker Prize-winner Richard Rogers, and fellow Stirling Prize laureates Gerard Maccreanor and Paul Monaghan – to find out which buildings stir their emotions and spark new ideas.

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The final selection spans geography and function, from the Zollverein Coal Mine in Essen, Germany (selected by David West and Christophe Egret of Studio Egret West for the “quality of the original industrial architecture”) to Lucy the Elephant, a six-story attraction in New Jersey (Tom Coward of AOC calls it “a building full of love, care and ambition”), and the gilded Steinhof Church in Vienna.

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“Some participants describe their choices as ‘profoundly moving’ or feeling ‘like coming home – the sort of analogies we draw when talking about finding a human soul mate,” writes Catherine Croft, director of the the Twentieth Century Society, in the book’s introduction.

Check out the gallery above for insights into the architecture that inspires architects.

“50 Architects 50 Buildings: The Buildings That Inspire Architects” by Twentieth Century Society, edited by Pamela Buxton, is out now.