After years of caution propagated by global economic turbulence, the architectural ambitions of many cities around the world appear to have been rekindled. From the deserts of the United Arab Emirates to the bustling metropolises of Taiwan, numerous cultural landmarks across the globe are approaching completion, well under way or set to break ground this year. Here are a few of the most highly anticipated structures to watch out for as 2016 unfolds:
Approaching completion: Taipei Performing Arts Centre by OMA, Taipei, Taiwan
Courtesy OMA
As Architizer reported back in 2013, OMA’s brand of program-led design looks set to provide Taipei with an urban landmark characterized by outlandish aesthetics and a raw, industrial sensibility. Photographs on the firm’s website show the building well under way to completion, and when the scaffolding is finally peeled away, Rem Koolhaas’ “grotesque, sublime machine” for theater will undoubtedly polarize public opinion across Taiwan and beyond.
Under construction: Louvre Abu Dhabi by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Via ArtAsiaPacific
Via Arabian Business
Via The National
Nouvel’s museum is the first of a rich cluster of cultural icons planned for Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi and looks well on track for completion later this year. The building is defined by a vast, perforated dome that unites the volumes below and should create some extraordinary exhibition spaces infused with water, shade and dappled light. If the atmosphere hinted at within the original renderings can be replicated, the Middle East will be home to a modern marvel. Read Architizer’s in-depth preview of the museum here.
Broken ground: LEGO House by BIG, Billund, Denmark
© Daria Pahhota
Courtesy BIG
In August last year, Bjarke Ingels laid the ‘keystone’ — a giant LEGO brick, naturally — for this museum dedicated to the history and evolution of the world-famous construction toy. Due for completion later this year, the LEGO House will comprise a cascading series of volumes, each containing a different programmatic element and topped with playful roof terraces.
Broken ground: Zayed National Museum by Foster + Partners, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Courtesy Foster + Partners
The footprint of Norman Foster’s cultural landmark is now visible on the sands of Saadiyat Island just to the east of Nouvel’s Louvre. Designed as a monument to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the museum will be crowned with five sculptural cooling towers that lend the building an iconic silhouette on top of their sustainable credentials.
Set to break ground: Museo Mazatlán by FR-EE/Fernando Romero Enterprise, Mazatlán, Mexico
2016 is set to be an exciting year for Mexican firm FR-EE. As construction progresses on the striking Latin American Art Museum in Miami, Fla., another distinctive institution is due to break ground south of the border in Mexico. This museum’s extraordinary form is inspired by the region’s alternative name, the ‘Pearl of the Pacific,’ and comprises a curvaceous steel shell reminiscent of an oyster with a pearl at its center. Expected to commence construction later in 2016, the building’s historic and anthropological program will celebrate the local culture of Mazatlán.