We should stop resting on our laurels and give more world-class architects a try.

"They hired a world-class architect who did not really know how a courthouse functioned," Mr. Yasgur said.

"We needed a world-class architect to reposition this facility," Mr. Cohen said.

"When you have a world-class architect like Frank and a developer," Mr. Broad said, "you end up having to make compromises, and they are doing that."

Not all of his plans to open satellites by world-class architects have borne fruit.

Even at the celebratory press conference for the Astor Hotel, his world-class architects spoke wearily of working with him.

"People are attracted to living in something designed by a world-class architect," Mr. Sibley said.

"Brooklyn is a world-class city, and it deserves a world-class team in a world-class arena designed by a world-class architect," he said.

Yet another world-class architect has created yet another design for ground zero.

It seems that almost every art institution in Los Angeles has hired a world-class architect to design a building.