22 of the World’s Greatest Architecture Projects Selected by Time Magazine

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa / Heatherwick Studio. Image © Iwan Baan

Time Magazine’s list of the World’s Greatest Places 2018 celebrates 100 destinations to visit, stay, eat, and drink from around the world. Chosen by Time’s global team of editors and correspondents, the contenders have been evaluated on quality, originality, innovation, sustainability, and influence.

The list features many architectural delights young and old, designed by famous architects past and present. Ranging from a treehouse in Sweden to a soaring art museum in South Africa, the projects are united by their architectural excellence, worthy of exploration by both architects and the general public.

Below we have rounded up some architectural highlights of Time’s list which have previously made an appearance on ArchDaily. Each includes a short description from Time and a link to our previous coverage.

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa / Heatherwick Studio

Time says: Hailed as “Africa’s answer to the Tate Modern” when it opened last September, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora.

Mar Adentro / Miguel Angel Aragonés

Time says: Originally designed by Mexican architect Miguel Ángel Aragonés and recently refreshed, the Viceroy Los Cabos resembles a series of stark white cubes that seem to float in blue reflecting pools.

Teopanzolco Cultural Center / Isaac Broid + PRODUCTORA

Time says: The Teopanzolco Cultural Center’s triangular forms mirror nearby Aztec pyramids to create, said Broid, a place where “contemporary cultural life establishes an ongoing dialogue with our past.”

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / Herzog & de Meuron

Time says: As visually striking as the Herzog and de Meuron–designed concert hall is—a glass tower perched atop a giant brick warehouse, surrounded on three sides by water—it’s the acoustics that steal the show.

Experimentarium / CEBRA

Time says: A giant copper spiral staircase, designed to look like DNA, sets the tone for this science museum, which reopened in 2017 after an extensive renovation.

National Memorial for Peace and Justice / MASS Design Group

Time says: Most public memorials exalt history. Deep in the American South, a powerful space pays homage to its victims.

Löyly / Avanto Architects

Time says: The striking waterfront facility uses wind and solar power, as well as sustainably sourced timber; its draw is similarly au naturel.

Tianjin Binhai Library / MVRDV + Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute

Time says: Anybody who laments the decline of the public library should look to Tianjin, China, where a gleaming new ziggurat has attracted more than 1.8 million visitors since it opened in October 2017.

Tai Kwun, Centre for Heritage & Art / Herzog & de Meuron

Time says: Hong Kong’s largest-ever restoration project, which opened this summer, is a complex of 16 former police and judicial buildings—some of them 150 years old and all relics from Hong Kong’s days as a British crown colony.

King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture / Snøhetta

Time says: Its striking forms rise 295 ft. from the desert, but this is no mirage. The new King Abdulaziz Center, also known as Ithra, is a cultural hub that reflects the changes sweeping Saudi Arabia.

SEOULLO Skygarden / MVRDV

Time says: Snaking above Seoul’s thoroughfares is Seoullo 7017 Skygarden, a new pedestrian walkway reborn from a former highway overpass, much in the vein of New York City’s High Line.

Design Society / Fumihiko Maki

Time says: A unique collaboration with the U.K.’s Victoria and Albert Museum that sees exhibitions on the power of design, including pieces from the V&A’s permanent collection, take center stage.

Lascaux IV / Snøhetta + Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture

Time says: The Snohetta-designed complex features some 600 prehistoric paintings and 1,000 engravings, all painstakingly re-created by a team of two dozen artists working from physical castings and advanced 3-D digital scans or the original artwork.

Louvre Abu Dhabi / Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Time says: Its larger aim is as lofty as the $1 billion paid to the Paris original for the name and contents—namely, to turn Abu Dhabi into a cultural capital. It helps that the Monets and van Goghs are displayed in a Jean Nouvel–designed complex that is itself a work of art.

New Artist Residency In Senegal / Toshiko Mori

Time says: There are few Senegalese towns more remote than Sinthian, which is more than seven hours from the nearest major airport in Dakar. And yet, it has recently emerged as a vibrant cultural center, luring artists, musicians and filmmakers from around the world.

The Murray Hotel / Foster + Partners

Time says: In a landmark 1960s former government office building, architects Foster + Partners have transformed corporate asceticism into first-class comfort.

Morpheus Hotel / Zaha Hadid Architects

Time says: Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, Morpheus is the world’s first free-form exoskeleton-bound high-rise: a grid of steel envelops 40 stories of glass with a fluidity inspired by Chinese jade carving.

Tree Hotel / Tham & Videgård Arkitekter

Time says: Tree houses aren’t generally synonymous with splendor. But the seven elevated cabins at Sweden’s Treehotel—located in a tiny village in the country’s Arctic region—could easily give the Swiss Family Robinson a run for its money.

Casa Vicens / Antonio Gaudí

Time says: Visitors can tour the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been restored to evoke its original splendor—including glazed ceramic facades, lush gardens and a rooftop beveled by colorful tiles.

Zaryadye Park / Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Time says: Huge public parks were a main feature of Soviet cities, central but also stately and formal—nothing like Zaryadye, Moscow’s first new large-scale public park in 50 years.

Tippet Rise Art Center

Time says: The 10,000-acre working sheep and cattle ranch is both thrumming with art—site-specific sculptures, a concert hall, an open-air performance venue—and humbling in the wide-open vistas and vastness of the landscape and sky.

Golden Bridge / TA Landscape Architecture

Time says: The two massive stony hands emerging from the mountains of central Vietnam may look mossy and cracked like ancient ruins, but don’t be fooled: they’re brand-new wire mesh and fiberglass supports for a striking footbridge that opened in June.