David Kohn
Aedas
Sou Fujimoto
Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto is best known for the ethereal and ephemeral Serpentine Gallery Pavilion he built in 2013. This year he created an even more intangible installation for fashion brand COS that was literally smoke and mirrors – and light.
Santiago Calatrava
The past year has been a roller coaster of highs and lows for Santiago Calatrava, the architect Dezeen readers tend to either love or hate.
MVRDV
Dutch studio MVRDV would have been placed highly in our Hot List under any circumstances – but its high ranking this year is due to the extraordinary popularity of its recent Chanel store facade in Amsterdam, which is made of glass bricks.
Zaha Hadid
Our first ever Dezeen Hot List is headed by an architect we lost this year. But the sad passing of Zaha Hadid was the most talked-about topic in architecture and design over the past 12 months and places the late architect at the top of our list.
Kengo Kuma
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma hit the news at the end of last year after winning a competition to design a new National Stadium in Tokyo, which will serve as the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympics.
EFFEKT
H Arquitectes
It might be a surprise to find H Arquitectes in the top 100, but the Spanish office has had a couple of big hits in recent months.
SANAA
Like Peter Zumthor, Japanese duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA enjoy a cult-like status in the architecture world. And like Zumthor, they are publicity shy and haven't built as prolifically as some of their famous peers.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Grimshaw
Competition wins and ambitious proposals helped cement a top-100 Hot List ranking for Nicholas Grimshaw's London firm.
Hawkins\Brown Architects
David Chipperfield
London architect David Chipperfield can do no wrong in the eyes of our readers. His quietly austere brand of modernism doesn't scream for attention, yet avoids being formulaic.
Peter Zumthor
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor is an enigma: he runs a small firm, rarely gives interviews, doesn't build much and doesn't even have a website. He's one of the people we've written about the least – only 28 stories, the lowest of any entrant in our top 10.
Lacaton & Vassal
Louis Kahn
Herzog & de Meuron
Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are perennial favourites among Dezeen readers, completing the trio of most admired practices alongside Zaha Hadid Architects and Bjarke Ingels Group.
Rem Koolhaas/OMA
Rem Koolhaas and his architecture firm OMA might easily have been two separate entries in our Hot List (his consultancy AMO could have been a third, but didn't get enough search traffic to make the cut).
Woods Bagot
Jonathan Tuckey
Nook Architects
Nook Architects has become the go-to studio for the renovation of historic Barcelona apartments and houses, thanks to a sensitive approach to restoring original details, combined with an enthusiasm for colour and pattern.