National Library of Israel by Herzog & de Meuron, 2023 – ©Herzog & de Meuron.

Architecture – Happy New year! Let’s welcome 2023 with culture and architecture. We have selected ten amazing buildings to be inaugurated in the next twelve months. The list includes new masterpieces by Snøhetta, Herzog de Meuron, Renzo Piano, Studio Gang,  and more. This year all eyes will also be on Copenhagen, UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture for 2023. Enjoy!

Beijing Sub-Center Library

Snøhetta – Beijing, China

Beijing Sub-Center Library by Snøhetta in Beijing, China – Photo by ©Plomp.

Designed to reflect a ginkgo-tree forest canopy, the Beijing Sub-Center Library by Norwegian studio Snøhetta will open its door this year. “The stepped landscape areas with the tree-like surroundings invite people to sit down and take a break at any time on their journey through the building – creating an informal zone and the notion of sitting under a tree reading your favorite book.” Read more…

Gilder Center

Studio Gang – New York City, USA

Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC, by Studio Gang – Photo via IG, follow @studiogang.

On November 2022, Studio Gang revealed the design of the new Gilder Center, a concrete cave-like extension to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. An undulating concrete facade invites you to explore a cavernous central open space crossed by flying bridges and topped by dramatic skylights. Along its walls, walkways and cut-outs provide vantage points to the ground below.

Istanbul Modern

RPBW Renzo Piano Building Workshop – Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul Modern by RPBW – Photo by RPBW.

Turkey’s first modern and contemporary art museum is set to be opened in the historic Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, on the waterfront of the western bank of the Bosphorus Strait. Renzo Piano Building Workshop replaced an existing port cruise terminal with a five-storey, 15,000-square-metre building. A transparent lobby provides a seamless visual and physical connection between the waterfront and the surrounding park. Istanbul Modern will be home to the existing and future art collections of the Istanbul Modern and will provide additional spaces for educational and cultural activities.

National Library of Israel

Herzog de Meuron – Jerusalem, Israel

National Library of Israel by Herzog & de Meuron – ©Herzog & de Meuron.

Herzog & de Meuron and Mann Shinar Architects & Planners are completing the National Library of Israel. Clad in local limestone mixed into the cement, the building tunes with Jerusalem’s historical color palette. A large circular skylight punctures the architecture from the roof to the ground level illuminating a display of curving bookcases and study spaces. An auditorium, a youth center, and various exhibition spaces are configured around the 50,500-square-foot reading hall.

Bezalel Academy of Arts

SANAA – Jerusalem, Israel

Bezalel Academy of Arts new campus by SANAA in Jerusalem, Israel – Image by SANAA.

On February 2023, architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA will inaugurate the new 37,000 square-metre campus of Bezalel Academy of Arts in one of the oldest districts of the Israeli capital. The Japanese studio teamed up with local firm Nir-Kutz Architects. Classrooms and studios will be arranged over a series of staggered horizontal slabs that correspond with the site’s natural topography. Numerous ramps and staircases will connect the split levels, while voids in the floorplates will create balconies between floors and increase natural light.

Factory International

OMA – Manchester, UK

Factory International by OMA in Manchester, UK – Render by OMA.

This June, Rem Koolhaas’ firm OMA inaugurates Factory International, Manchester’s new destination for theatre and performative arts, embracing the city’ industrial and creative DNA. The 13,350 square-metre “ultra-flexible building will allow for multiple configurations and enable large-scale artistic work of invention and ambition that is not made anywhere else.” Said OMA Partner Ellen van Loon.

Abrahamic Family House

Adjaye Associates – Saadiyat Island, UAE

The Abrahamic Family House – Image: courtesy of Adjaye Associates.

Adjaye Associates is set to complete an inter-religious complex designed as a platform for understanding and coexistence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Commissioned by The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, The Abrahamic Family House comprises a mosque, a church, a synagogue, and a secular visitor pavilion “with powerful plutonic forms” sit on a plinth creating a communal space. “The cubic forms are translated from the three faiths. We used the lens to define what is similar as opposed to what is different.” Explained Sir David Adjaye. Read more…

Shenzen Bay Culture Park

MAD Architects – Shenzen, China

Shenzhen Bay Culture Park masterplan by MAD Architects – Image by PROLOOG, courtesy of MAD Architects.

A sprawling green plaza dotted with semi-submerged giant pebbles-shaped buildings hosting exhibition halls, auditoriums, and theaters compose a harmonious civic and recreational park linking the fast-growing metropolis of Shenzen with its quiet oceanfront. “I want to create a surreal atmosphere so that the people who visit, relax or exercise here have the possibility of engaging in a dialogue with the past and the future. Time and space are dissolved and placed against each other, manifesting a sense of weightlessness and unrestrained imagination,” Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, told Archipanic. Read more…

Grand Egyptian Museum

Henegan Peng Architects – Giza, Egypt

Photo via Instagram by @grand_egyptian_museum.

Will 2023 be the year of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum by Henegan Peng Architects? Located at the edge of the first desert plateau between the pyramids and Cairo, the world’s largest archaeological museum comprises a 24,000 square meter permanent exhibition space hosting the Tutankhamun collection, a children’s museum, a conference center, a conservation center, and gardens. The building’s façade features a giant triangular pattern and stretches on a 50m level slope, recalling the difference in height created as the Nile carves its way through the desert. A front surface defined by a veil of translucent stone will transform from day to night.

2023 UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture

Copenhagen, Denmark

Axel Towers by Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter in Copenhagen – Photo by Susanne Nilsson, CC BY SA2.0.

This year, all eyes will be on Copenhagen, UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture, for 2023. The Danish capital will host a series of major events and programmes on the theme Sustainable Futures – Leave No One Behind. In cooperation with the Danish Association of Architects and various Nordic professional bodies, the municipality will examine how architecture and urban design contribute to meeting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.