Six of the best architectural projects of 2012

Big, Bold, and Buzz-Worthy Buildings in 2012

AD spotlights a dozen showstopping architectural projects around the world that people will be talking about this year—and beyond

Text by Josephine Minutillo

 

 

 Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Baku by Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid’s signature sexy curves are on full display in the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, a fluid form constructed of glass-reinforced concrete that emerges from the folds of the landscape’s natural topography. This major new venue will play a pivotal role in the redevelopment of the Azerbaijani capital, housing a conference hall with three auditoriums, a library, and a national museum.

Rendering and photo: © Zaha Hadid Architects

 Phoenix International Media Center in Beijing by BIAD UFo
For years China has imported big-name architects (Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl) to create out-of-this-world structures. But now China is producing its own generation of daring designers. Beijing-based BIAD UFo’s Phoenix International Media Center is giving Herzog & de Meuron’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium a run for its money. The complex features a pair of buildings with offices and TV-broadcasting facilities encased in a dramatic doughnut-shaped shell of swirling steel.

Rendering and photo: Courtesy of BIAD UFo

 

London Bridge Tower by Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Of all the buildings added to the London skyline in the run-up to the Olympics, the most imposing is unquestionably Renzo Piano’s London Bridge Tower, located on the south bank of the Thames, next to the bustling London Bridge transportation hub. At 72 stories and 1,016 feet high, it dwarfs the mostly low buildings around it and will be the tallest building in the European Union. Nicknamed the Shard, because of its façade of tapering glass panels, the tower will contain offices, apartments, a hotel and spa, restaurants, shops, and, at its pointed top, a 15-story public viewing gallery.

Rendering: © Renzo

Shenzhen Stock Exchange by OMA
OMA, the international firm cofounded by Rem Koolhaas, has stated that its building for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has to reflect the financial markets, not just physically accommodate a trading floor and offices. As if buoyed by the same speculative euphoria that drives investors, the building’s rectangular base appears to hover several stories off the ground. “The concept of the building is simple but strong,” says partner-in-charge David Gianotten. “The floating podium of the otherwise generic building liberates the ground level, which becomes a new public square of Shenzhen.”

Rendering and photo: © OMA

 

Dalian International Conference Center in Dalian, China, by Coop Himmelb(l)au
Founded in 1968, Viennese firm Coop Himmelb(l)au has taken its unique brand of Deconstructivist architecture from Europe to the U.S. and more recently to China. At nearly 1.3 million square feet, its Dalian International Conference Center—which includes exhibition spaces and a performance hall—is one of its biggest projects to date. The building’s floating, wavelike envelope (which sits atop a load-bearing shell structure) and soft, rippling surfaces evoke the forces of the sea, referencing Dalian’s history as an important port.

Rendering: © ISOCHROM.com, Vienna

Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, China, by Steven Holl Architects
With offices in Beijing now, as well as New York, Steven Holl has quite a lively practice in China, having completed a string of major projects in recent years. His latest is Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Comprising five towers, the three-million-square-foot hybrid complex has residential and work spaces, shops, and facilities for recreation and culture. “It is neither a tower nor a slab or perimeter block,” Holl says. “It’s a sculpted mass, where the exoskeleton structure of concrete is sliced according to precise angles to allow sunlight to reach surrounding buildings.”

Photo: © Iwan Baan

Pazhou Hotel in Guangzhou by Aedas
As bombastic as any building conceived in the past decade, the Pazhou Hotel, designed by the international firm Aedas, stacks guest-room floors in two staggered piles atop a nearly 200-foot-high atrium that links exhibition and retail spaces. Located in Guangzhou’s rapidly expanding Pazhou district, the new building strives to be unique among the bold designs that already occupy the area, including Zaha Hadid’s Opera House just across the Pearl River.

Rendering courtesy of Aedas