Who sparked their architectural imagination? Who has inspired them most? Whose legacy are they building upon? Three internationally renowned architects offer a personal tribute to the figures who shaped their profession and continue to influence their work.
The third exhibition in the series Architecture’s Connecting focuses on the architect’s connection to his or her own profession. And thus on how inspiration from the work, thoughts and philosophies of other architects can translate into the development of completely new architecture – either in concrete and visible form or as an underlying ideology.
Toyo Ito (Japan, b. 1941), Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (Norway, b. 1958) and Lina Ghotmeh (Lebanon, b. 1980) represent three generations of architects with widely different cultural backgrounds, but all with impressive, international careers.
In the exhibition, Ito, Thorsen and Ghotmeh follow the trail of architects with whom they feel particularly connected. Role models who originally ignited their own passion for architecture, helped shape their path, and to whom they continue to revert and to “build upon” in their practice.
The connections between these three architects’ own work and their sources of inspiration are thus the focal point of the exhibition and are shown through spatial installations, models and various media.
Toyo Ito has chosen to point to Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), known as Le Corbusier, as his point of reference. The Franco-Swiss architect, designer, painter, urban planner and author is widely recognized as one of the great pioneers of modern architecture. Ito is especially preoccupied with Le Corbusier’s visions and projects in Chandigarh, India.
In connection with the exhibition, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen has wished to highlight two role models, both French. Claude Parent (1923-2016), who in both practice and theory broke with the modernist direction in France and sought new spatialities by working with displacements, tilted volumes and fragmented floor plans and Paul Virilio (1932-2018) – cultural theorist, urban planner, architect and aesthetic philosopher – who is best known for his writings on the development of technology in relation to speed and power.
Lina Ghotmeh has also chosen to point to two sources of inspiration: Egyptian Hassan Fathy (1900-1989), who was both an architect, artist and poet and a strong advocate for using pre-industrial construction methods and for an aesthetic that, instead of Western influence, seeks to return to more classical, Muslim traditions. In addition, the Iraqi-British star architect Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), widely considered one of the most important and influential figures in contemporary architecture.
Louisiana’s exhibition series Architecture Connecting focuses on how architecture is connected to science and research within a wide range of other fields of knowledge such as biology, neuroscience and anthropology and this time within the field of architecture itself.
The first exhibition in the series ‘Living Structures’ was shown in 2024-2025 and introduced three studios / design labs – ecoLogicStudio, Atelier LUMA and Jenny Sabin Studio – working at the intersection of algorithms and nature to develop methods that re-evaluate the question of sustainable architecture and climate considerations. Read more about the exhibition here.
Architecture’s connections to concepts and mindsets known from anthropology, archaeology and geology were spotlighted in the exhibition Memoryscapes (2026) presenting the two studios DnA_Design and Architecture (Beijing) and ATTA – Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects (Paris). Read more about the exhibition here
Architecture Connecting III
Opens in 243 days
