2011 in Architecture

We’ve posted up some serious architectural delights over the last 12 months, as the world’s most inspirational architects – young and old – continue to mock convention and prod conformity with a big stick. We’ve rounded up our favourites from 2011, and here they are…

Zaha Hadid at the Institut du Monde Arabe

“Even the most casual admirer of architecture should now be counting this breathtaking structure as a new Parisian ‘must-see.”

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Metropol Parasol, Seville

“A breathtakingly modern interpretation of an urban centre, a place to be inspired but also to do the everyday things you do in city life.”

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Photograph by Amit Geron

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Herta and Paul Amir Building

“The contorted, geometric concrete panelling of its façade mean it’s just as elegant on the outside as it is within.”

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Photograph by Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn

Sarpi Border Checkpoint, Georgia

“They’re a practice who deal in the stupendous, the spectacular, and the down-right weird.”

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Photograph by HOK/Moris Moreno

The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg

“Surreal, innovative and utterly-compelling, HOK’s dramatic architectural delight is a fitting tribute to the eccentric works it houses.”

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Avondale Heights Library, Melbourne

“Full of confident swagger and braggadocio in an already eclectic neighbourhood.”

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Photograph by Iwan Baan

Pacific Place, Hong Kong

“It’s kind of like the architectural equivalent of a whale noise CD.”

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Photograph by Miguel de Guzmán

Tenerife Centre of Dramatic Arts

“You may think piña coladas and sunburnt Brits before world-class architecture; but Tenerife is an island with considerably more strings to its bow than just Sunday roasts in the sun.”

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Black Box Revelation, by Re-Make/Re-Model

“Glossy and polished design can often be trumped by the most primitive and crude of ideas.”

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Bloomberg Pavilion, Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art

“The mysterious yet graceful white box, with it’s mesmerising, almost pixelated extrusion, will play host to a series of cultural programs for young artists.”

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