Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal A celebrity architect.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of star and architect

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Examples

  • "starchitect" - designed buildings, 30 of which have been completed.

    NYT > Travel 2010

  • In a letter, Robert Venturi, perhaps the nation's first 'starchitect', decries the $200-million project to move the Barnes 'Foundation Collection to downtown Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

    Michael Henry Adams: The Art of the Steal: Betraying Dr. Albert Barnes and Future Generations 2010

  • There have been no headline-grabbing shows here, no " starchitect " renovations or additions, not even a modest caf é or upscale dining venture.

    The Frick at a Glowing 75 Ann Landi 2010

  • BMW isn't new to the "starchitect" game; Zaha Hadid designed the central building of its BMW Werk factory in Leipzig, finished in 2005.

    Car-chitecture: New Museums 2007

  • It has been designed by British "starchitect" Will Alsop, best known in Toronto for the futuristic Ontario College of Art on stilts.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Tess Kalinowski 2011

  • It has been designed by British "starchitect" Will Alsop, best known in Toronto for the futuristic Ontario College of Art on stilts.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Tess Kalinowski 2011

  • It has also commissioned international "starchitect" Zaha Hadid to design the $98

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • The subtlety of their work stands out from previous "starchitect" winners like

    Apartment Therapy Main Sarah Coffey 2010

  • Directly behind the demolition site, meanwhile, a massive new park and cultural centre is rising, anchored by a striking, undulating building designed by the London-based "starchitect" Zaha Hadid.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • Directly behind the demolition site, meanwhile, a massive new park and cultural centre is rising, anchored by a striking, undulating building designed by the London-based "starchitect" Zaha Hadid.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

Comments

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  • "It's hard to pinpoint when the 'starchitect' became an object of ridicule. The term is a favorite of churlish commentators, who use it to mock architects whose increasingly flamboyant buildings, in their minds, are more about fashion and money than function."

    - The New York Times, December 16, 2007

    December 18, 2007