2020 Best Architecture – Asif Khan’s portals for Expo Dubai – Photo by Helene Binet.
2020 Best Architecture – We have rounded up 12 stunning architectures which have been unveiled or have inaugurated this year including works by OMA, Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG and Fran Silvestre Arquitectos.
- RELATED STORIES: check our 2020 review featuring brilliant architecture and design!
RESIDENTIAL
Photo by Nic Lehoux.
MAD Architects has completed the Gardenhouse residential building that looks like a hilltop village and features the US’ “largest living wall”. White-off pitched roofs and a verdant communal courtyard bring residents together in the heart of Beverly Hills. Read more…
HOSPITALITY
Photo: ©Laurian Ghinitoiu.
In Dubai, Zaha Hadid Architects‘ OPUS building explores “the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior”. The project is home to the new ME Dubai hotel, the first and last one in which the late architect created both the architecture and the interior design. Read more…
OFFICE
Photo by Studio Velocity.
There is a delicate balance of gravity and tension in the Sannouno office building by Studio Velocity in Japan. The building features a white convivial curved roof and a randomly-disposed forest of wooden columns underneath. Read more…
PUBLIC & EDUCATION
Photo by KIE, courtesy of SHAU.
The inclusive microlibrary Warak Kayu by architecture studio SHAU is made from locally sourced wood and takes advantage of Indonesia tropical climate to minimise energy consumption. Inspired by traditional houses on stilts, the building features an amphi-theatre for workshop, wooden swings and a suspended net. Read more…
MUSEUM
Image by MIR, courtesy of Dorte Mandrup Architects.
300 km North of the Arctic Circle, Dorte Mandrup Architects unveiled The Whale museum and whale-watching facility which will be “rising as a soft hill on the rocky shore, as if a giant had lifted a thin layer of the crust of the earth and created a cavity underneath”. Read more…
PAVILION
Photo by Helene Binet, courtesy of Asif Khan design studio.
Asif Khan has created three ethereal portals that will welcome visitors of Expo Dubai which will inaugurate in October 2021. The 7 storey tall carbon fibre structures are inspired by ‘mashrabiya’, a latticed design element in traditional Islamic architecture which allows to control light and airflow with see-through intricately geometric patterns. Read more…
FACTORY
Image by Lucian R, courtesy of BIG.
Tucked in the heart of the Norwegian forest, The Plus factory by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group for urban furniture manufacturer Vestre was “envisioned as a village for a community dedicated to the cleanest, carbon neutral fabrication of urban and social furniture.” The cross-shaped production facility includes also a visitor centre and a 300-acre park for hiking and camping. Read more…
VILLA
Photo by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos.
Located on a slope overlooking the sea, House of The Sun concept-villa by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos was conceived as a threshold opening the door to infinite space. As a liminal white off element, the penthouse contrasts with the blue of the sky and the sea, and the earth color of the island. Read more…
COMMERCIAL
Photo by © Hong Sung Jun, courtesy of OMA.
In Gwanggyo, South Korea, Rem Koolhaas’ OMA has inaugurated the luxury department store Galleria which dialogues with the nature and architecture of the city inviting visitors to engage with architecture and culture as they shop. The building resembles a sculpted stone emerging from the ground thanks to a textured mosaic stone façade. Read more…
RELIGIOUS
Illustration by André Chiote.
With the Sacred Space series of graphic posters Portuguese architect and illustrator Andrè Chiote pays tribute to religious buildings by Oscar Niemeyer, Alvaro Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and more. The project highlights the most distinctive features of each architecture with simplified geometries. Read more…
PAST & PRESENT
Photo by McCullough Mulvin Architects.
McCullough Mulvin Architects combined sensitive restoration and contemporary design for the Medieval Mile Museum celebrating the heritage of Kilkenny, Ireland’s ancient capital. The Dublin-based studio reconstructed and cladded in lead the lost aisle and chancel of the historic St. Mary’s Church. Read more…
INTO THE FUTURE
Courtesy of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center.
Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject unveiled the design of PROTEUS™, the world’s most advanced underwater scientific research station and habitat conceived as the submarine equivalent of the International Space Station. The sustainable architecture was developed for Fabien Cousteau Ocealn Learning Center. Read more…
