The recent news of Brad Pitt dating MIT professor and TED-talking famous architect Neri Oxman came as a surprise to some, although to be fair, there are many very famous people who are also architects themselves. Below is a list of 10 famous people who also happen to be architects.
1.Pink Floyd
While many have said that Pink Floyd’s iconic songs were constructed with geometric precision, the fact remains that three of Pink Floyd's five founding members met while studying architecture at the Polytechnic in London, now known as the University of Westminster. In 1969, Pink Floyd even released an album called: ‘Music for Architectural Students’.
2. Ice Cube
American rapper Ice Cube after founding hip hop group N.W.A., began his studies in architecture as a failsafe for his career in music. He studied architectural drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology, earning his diploma in 1988. Ice Cube is said to have been inspired by the designs of California’s post-modernist Eames House.
3. Seal
Singer and former husband to model Heidi Klum, Seal, after two years of study, received an associate degree in architecture, subsequently working at a series of firms while concurrently developing an interest in music.
4. Jimmy Stewart
Iconic film star Jimmy Stewart studied architecture at Princeton after being awarded a graduate scholarship for his design of an airport terminal. Stewart never pursued graduate studies in architecture but went on to enjoy a highly successful career and appeared in over 92 films.
5. Ralf Hütter
As the founder, lead singer and keyboardist for German band Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter also trained as an architect. Hütter has also said on numerous occasions that he will pursue his interests in architecture when Kraftwerk disbands.
6. Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy was an 19th century English novelist and poet who wrote novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Hardy began his formal education in Dorchester, and then King's College London. Before he was a writer, Hardy won numerous awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects and played a role in the design of London's historic St. Pancras Station.
7. Art Garfunkel
Perhaps the lesser-known half of the famous singing duo Simon & Garfunkel, Art Garfunkel attended New York’s Columbia University where he studied architecture, graduating with a degree in art history in 1962 as well as completing a graduate degree in mathematics in 1967. In 1969, the band recorded "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright," described as being an homage to one of Garfunkel's architectural heroes.
8. Benyamin Netanyahu
Israel's current Prime Minister holds two degrees from MIT, one in architecture and another in management. According to MIT Architecture professor Leon B. Groisser, Netanyahu was very bright. "Organised. Strong. Powerful. He knew what he wanted to do and how to get it done."
9. Thomas Jefferson
The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was also a practicing architect. He seemed particularly inspired by Italian architecture and in 1772, Jefferson built his home in Virginia and named it Monticello, establishing a style that would be later known as 'Jeffersonian Architecture.'
10. Weird Al Yankovic
The pop parody artist known who was born Alfred Matthew Yankovic studied at California’s Polytechnic State University, graduating with a degree in architecture.
