Eccentric Habits of the World’s Most Famous Architects

Reading a recent note about coffee, I wondered—what do those who don’t drink coffee do?

Interestingly, Frank Lloyd Wright practiced polyphasic sleep—short periods of rest every three to four hours instead of a long night’s sleep.

Luis Barragán would order entirely pink lunches—for example, half a melon with sherry. Makes sense! As one of the most vibrant Mexican architects, Barragán used tropical colors in his works. And if you design pink walls, you should eat in matching tones too.

I. M. Pei loved lying in bed in the dark—it was there that his most productive, dream-like ideas came to him. As he got older, he switched entirely to a “paper-free” approach to design. Imagine—a designer who doesn’t draw!

Denise Scott Brown had the habit of “people-watching” in her completed projects. She would stand and smile at students at the University of Pennsylvania, observing how they sat “like bees in a hive” on the steps of her building. And the students just saw “some old lady in a skirt” and wondered why she was smiling so broadly.

“Architectural art cannot be created in an office environment,” said Aalto, and he would drink “like a fish” right in the office in order to create a bohemian atmosphere.

Eileen Gray encoded the names of her lovers in the titles of her projects. The villa E.1027 stands for “E” (Eileen), “10” (J), “2” (B), “7” (G)—the initials of her and Jean Badovici.

Romantic and architectural at the same time!