For architects and designers alike, form and function play and important role in building design. Airport control towers should be no different. As they often are the first distant sign from ground level of an approaching airport, control towers help identify and distinguish one airport from another and add a certain panache to the facility. It doesn’t matter if the tower is a delightful classic design like Grand Rapids, Michigan or a sleek, ultra-modern style like Mumbai, the control is the airport’s signature statement. An exclamation point constructed of steel, concrete, and glass.

Below are some photographs of airport control towers that stand out from the crowd and make such a distinctive statement, including an awesome art deco design built by Howard Hughes in 1938 at Houston’s Hobby Airport that now serves as a museum.