“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” read the famous lines inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. Housing nearly 20% of all immigrants in the world, the United States is a famously diverse country and, when at its best, incredibly welcoming. This Fourth of July, we’re celebrating this proud tradition by taking a look at architects from around the world who’ve made America their home.

Whether from Paris or Poland, Beijing or Beirut, the architects in this list all have made significant contributions to the field of architecture after moving to the United States. The reasons for their moves are myriad; some leave due to instability at home, while others come simply because of economic opportunities. In any case, we’re glad they did. (Of course, this is a highly incomplete list—and it is, by no means, organized by any hierarchy.)

Take a moment away from the grill or pool and check out the work of these fantastic practices:

Marcelo López-Dinardi of (A)n Office

Born in Chile, Marcelo López-Dinardi is proud of his status as an immigrant, listing it prominently in bios. He’s the co-founder of the Detroit and New York-based practice A(n) Office alongside V. Mitch McEwen. The duo made a splash with their project for the US Pavilion of the 2016 Venice Biennale, which comprised a proposal for the Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit area. They’ve also collaborated with the Architectural League of New York, the Queens Museum of Art, the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, and Detroit’s Imagination Station.

Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos

Enrique Norten, principal of the design firm TEN Arquitectos (Taller de Enrique Norten Arquitectos), was born in Mexico City, where he also founded his firm in 1986. By 2003, their status had grown and they opened an office in New York, becoming the border-straddling practice they are known as today. While still working in D.F. and elsewhere in Mexico, TEN Arquitectos also has some major projects in the US as well, such as a masterplan for a 4.5 mile stretch of the New Orleans riverfront.

Find out more about Enrique Norten by listening to his interview with Archinect's Senior Editor Orhan Ayyuce here:

Ma Yansong of MAD Architects

These days, it’s hard to escape mention of MAD Architects, with their mega-high-profile project for Los Angeles, the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, finally kicking off. The firm was founded in 2004 by the Chinese architect Ma Yansong. Now, they have offices in three major international cities: Beijing, Los Angeles, and New York.

Want to find out more about Ma Yansong? Read our interview with him here.

Amale Andraos of WORKac

Alongside Dan Wood, Amale Andraos is the founder of the New York-based firm WORKac. She was born in Beirut, Lebanon and lived previously in Saudi Arabia (as well as France, Canada, and the Netherlands). Living in the MENA region seemed to have had an impact on the architect, who recently published the acclaimed book The Arab City. Besides her award-winning work with WORKac, Andraos heads the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. 

Find out more about Amale Andraos by reading our Deans List with her, or take a listen to our interview with her for Archinect Sessions One-to-One:

Moshe Safdie of Safdie Architects

Moshe Safdie is something of the epitome of the global architect. Born in Haifa, Israel, he studied at McGill in Montreal before moving to Philadelphia to apprentice for Louis Kahn. Safdie first gained widespread recognition when he moved back to Montreal to buid his project Expo 67 for the 1967 World Exhibition. In the ’70s, Sadie returned to Israel, launching a Jerusalem office and overseeing the rebuilding of Jerusalem, as well as designing many major projects. Later, Safdie moved to Boston where he resides today.

Incidentally, Expo 67 turned 50 this year. Check out our conversation with Moshe Safdie about the project and its impact on his career here.

Daniel Libeskind of Studio Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind was born in Łódź, Poland in 1946 to Dora and Nachman Libeskind, both survivors of the Holocaust. When he was eleven, he moved with his family to a kibbutz in Israel, then to Tel Aviv, and finally New York. His experience as an immigrant so marked his life and work that he titled his autobiography Breaking Ground: An Immigrant’s Journey from Poland to Ground Zero. Today, Libeskind works around the world, from South Korea to Berlin.
 
Learn more about Libeskind from his Proust Questionnaire. 

Oana Stanescu of Family

Oana Stanescu is one of the founding partners of Family, an architectural practice with clients ranging from Kanye West to the New Museum in New York. Born in Romania, she worked at esteemed architectural firms across the globe, from SANAA to Herzog & de Meuron among others, before setting in the U.S and starting Family along with her partner Dong-Ping Wong. After Trump attempted to institute a travel ban, the firm issued a statement to Archinect proudly proclaiming that “Family is an American business that would not exist without the immigrants and children of immigrant that founded and work at it.” 
 
Want to hear more about Family? Check out our podcast interview with them for Archinect Sessions One-to-One here: 

Nader Tehrani of NADAAA

Nader Tehrani was born in England to an Iranian diplomat and was raised in Pakistan, South Africa, Iran and the U.S. On his path to becoming an architect, he has cited his international upbringing as being informative: “Growing up, as we went from country to country and culture to culture, what we lacked as kids was a common foundation. We didn’t have one language: we had many. We didn’t have one history or one culture: we had many of them.” Because of this, visuality (including architecture) became a language through which he could communicate. His firm NADAAA, based in Boston, has received the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award and is consistently ranked as one among top firms. Tehrani is also the Dean of Cooper Union’s School of Architecture

Find out about his pedagogical approach by checking out his Deans List here.

Jing Liu, Ilias Papageorgiou, and Florian Idenburg of SO-IL

The New York-based studio SO-IL is highly international: its founders Jing Liu, Ilias Papageorgiou, and Florian Idenburg hail from China, Greece, and the Netherlands, respectively. Recently, they’ve been on a roll, designing the critically-acclaimed Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the UC Davis campus as well as other significant projects. SO-IL is known, in particular, for their incredible detailing and distinct aesthetic.

Hsinming Fung of Hodgetts + Fung

Hsinming Fung, one of the principals at Hodgetts+Fung, is from Viet Nam and fluent in five languages. Her bio proudly states that “having lived in several countries, [her] comprehension of the human experience in various urban environments adds a unique insight to her designs, facilitating accessibility without compromising intellectual integrity.”

Andrés Jaque of the Office for Political Innovation

Hailing from Madrid, Andrés Jaque bases his Office for Political Innovation in his hometown as well as in New York, where he teaches at Columbia University. His inventive work critically interrogates the norms of architecture while maintaining an inviting, often playful, side. To this end, Jaque nimbly moves through a variety of contexts, from traditional built architecture to performance art. He is motivated, in part, by the imperative to expose architecture’s inner workings, making visible its limitations and its complicities, in order to expand the public’s role in the making of cities.

Find out more about Jaque’s work in this interview we conducted with him earlier this year.

Vishaan Chakrabarti of PAU

Vishaan Chakrabarti recently launched his own firm PAU after building a diverse and prestigious resume. He started at SOM, has headed the Manhattan office of the Department of City Planning, has served as Director of the Columbia Center for Urban Real Estate, has teamed up with SHoP, and even published a book. 

The impressive architect and urban planner re-shaping NYC was born in Calcutta, India and recently spoke with us in an interview about how his time there has shaped his views on urban density.

Neri Oxman

The American-Israeli architect Neri Oxman straddles many roles, including designer and professor over at MIT’s Media Lab where she leads the Mediated Matter studio, researching the ways digital fabrication technology interacts with natural environments and the biological world. She was born in Haifa to an American father and Israeli mother, who are both well-known figures in the academic architecture world in Israel.

J. Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler of Höweler + Yoon

The two founders of this Boston-based firm both started their lives in different parts of the world. J. Meejin Yoon is from South Korea. She studied in the US, earning a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University. In addition to running Höweler + Yoon she is also a Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT. Eric Höweler is from Colombia. He also studied architecture at Cornell, earning both his Bachelor and Master of Architecture. In addition to his work at Höweler + Yoon, he is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Mia Lehrer of Mia Lehrer + Associates

A native of El Salvador, Mia Lehrer is the founder of the Los Angeles-based landscape architecture and urban design firm, Mia Lehrer + Associates (ML+A), now working on the LA river. Some of the firm’s notable projects also include the master plan for the Silver Lake Reservoir, the Annenberg Community Beach House, the revitalization of the San Pedro Waterfront, and 3.5 acres of outdoor gardens for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Find out more about Mia Lehrer's work on the LA River in this interview conducted as part of Next Up: The LA River.

Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY

Founded by Kulapat Yantrasast, who grew up in Thailand, wHY is based in New York and Los Angeles. The 25-person practice started in 2004 and encompasses four independent yet interconnected workshops: ideas, buildings, grounds, and objects. Their recent projects include: The Speed Art Museum; Pomona College Studio Art Hall; The Grand Rapids Art Museum; The Harvard Art Museums Galleries; The Kordansky Gallery; L&M Arts; the Samurai exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Rafael Viñoly of Rafael Viñoly Architects

Originally from Uruguay, Rafael Vinoly settled permanently in New York City in 1979. He then founded his practice in 1983. Today, the firm has offices worldwide, including London, Los Angeles, and the United Arab Emirates. His first major project in New York was the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (completed in 1988), and then he won an international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum the following year. His notable projects include the Van Andel Institute, the Carrasco International Airport, a finalist scheme for the World Trade Center design competition after the 9/11 attack, and several more. In his career of 40+ years, Viñoly has practiced in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Craig Dykers and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen of Snøhetta

Snøhetta’s two founding partners, Craig Edward Dykers and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, hail from Germany and Norway, respectively. The studio has designed multiple notable public and cultural landmarks in the U.S., including the Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center. With 150 designers working on projects around the world, Snøhetta is an international architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and brand design studio with offices in Oslo, Norway, New York City, San Francisco, Innsbruck, Austria, Singapore, and Stockholm.

Ekaterina Zavyalova of FOAM

Co-founded by the Moscow-born architect Ekaterina Zavyalova, FOAM might be the youngest—and most ambitious—of the practices on this list. For one, while based primarily out of New York, they’re a “decentralized architecture office”, which means they have members scattered all around the world. And their current work is much more ambitious than just designing a single building. Rather, they’re building a platform on the Ethereum blockchain meant to, basically, be a stock market for real estate. In short, they want to decentralize spatial production, enabling the average person to invest in their city, and architects (and other interested parties) to start and own their own projects.

Find out more about their work by reading our interview with them here.