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"View Slideshow\n\nThe global financial crisis has slowed the pace of building in much of the world, ensuring that 2012 won't exactly go down as a boom year for architects. But there are plenty of eagerly anticipated projects slated for completion, and Architectural Digest has compiled a shortlist of 12 key buildings for 2012. A couple of high-profile American projects made the list, almost as much for controversy (the new Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia) and cutbacks (the new Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York) as for their noteworthy architecture. In the Middle East, the lately bustling construction hubs of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha didn't make the cut, but Amman, Jordan, did. So did, a bit farther afield, Baku, in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. It's no surprise that many of the showstoppers are in China\u2014and not just in Beijing and Shanghai. An eclectic array of audacious structures is popping up in the fast-growing metropolises of Chengdu, Shenzhen, Dalian, and Guangzhou. \"The next two decades in China could present the most momentous migration in human history,\" says Steven Holl, whose Sliced Porosity Block high-rise complex in Chengdu is included. \"The unique situation there calls for unprecedented architectural and urban prototypes to redirect rapid urbanization.\" Still, when it comes to skyscrapers in the taller-is-better mold, it's a gleaming 72-story tower by Renzo Piano that takes the crown this year\u2014in low-slung London of all places.\n\nClick here to see our 12 buzz-worthy buildings for 2012."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/best-architectural-projects-article-2012-01>