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"10 Blockbuster Buildings From the World's Top Architects\nAudaciously sculptural or pared down and pristine, today's great feats of architectural ingenuity are pushing the field in bold new directions. To survey the scene, AD spotlights ten cutting-edge projects from recent years.\nReykjav\u00CDk, Iceland\n\n Henning Larsen Architects and Batter\u00EDi\u00F0 Architects, 2011\n\nEven before its official opening, this gemlike venue breathed new life into the Icelandic capital's once-sleepy harbor, captivating locals and luring visitors with its kaleidoscopic fa\u00E7ade of multicolor glass. The crystalline shell, conceived by artist Olafur Eliasson, wonderfully complements the structure's aggregate of jagged, geometric volumes. At night, exterior LED strips activate, transforming the waterfront landmark into a shimmering beacon of beauty.\nDubai, United Arab Emirates\n\n Skidmore, Owings &amp;amp; Merrill, 2010\n\nRising a dizzying 2,717 feet above the desert, this spectacular supertower reigns as the tallest structure in the world. Its 162 floors contain offices, residences, restaurants, an Armani hotel, and an observation deck, 124 stories up. The strength of its design stems not only from its awe-inspiring verticality but also from its sleek silhouette. Wrapped in a glass curtain wall with steel mullions that catch the Arabian sun, the building tapers gradually from its Y-shaped base, with setbacks culminating in a 700-foot spire.\nSingapore\n\n Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Grant Associates, 2012\n\nSide-by-side parabolic conservatories of glass and steel anchor this cutting-edge botanical garden in Singapore's booming Marina Bay district. Named the 2012 building of the year by the World Architecture Festival, the Wilkinson Eyre\u2013designed structures replicate distinct climates\u2014one dry, the other humid\u2014allowing for diverse attractions like a flower meadow and a misty mountain forest.\nNo less extraordinary is the adjoining grove of vertical gardens by Grant Associates. Visitors can stroll an elevated walkway connecting the \"supertrees,\" some of which are fitted with photovoltaic cells to harness solar energy.\nBeijing\n\n Steven Holl Architects, 2009\n\nComposed of eight connected towers, this mixed-use complex represents a compelling vision for 21st-century urban development. To combat the isolation often associated with luxury residential buildings and gated communities, the architects placed wide, open passages at ground level, ushering pedestrians into a series of public spaces that include gardens, shops, restaurants, and schools.\nHigh overhead, glass-and-steel bridges also contain retail spaces and a caf\u00E9, providing another sphere for community-fostering encounters between visitors and neighbors.\nLondon\n\n Renzo Piano Building Workshop, 2012\n\nFamiliar to watchers of last summer's Olympic Games, this 72-story skyscraper\u2014the tallest in Western Europe\u2014has transformed the British capital's skyline, rising arrestingly on the southern banks of the Thames. Inspired by church steeples, the structure comprises eight angled glass fa\u00E7ades that variously reflect the surrounding city and sky and offer crystal-clear glimpses inside. Intended by Piano to act as a vertical village, the multifunctional building includes offices, apartments, restaurants, and a hotel\u2014all crowned by a recently opened observation platform, which affords stunning views up to 40 miles in every direction.\nDallas\n\n Morphosis Architects, 2012\n\nArchitect Thom Mayne, the Pritzker Prize\u2013winning founder of Morphosis, is famous for breaking the mold, and his latest building is no exception. Sheathed in panels of textured concrete, it consists of a five-story cube, fractured at one corner and set atop a sweeping plinth planted with Texas grasses. Slashed across the cube's exterior is a dramatic glass-enclosed escalator, which whisks visitors to the top-floor entrance to the exhibits.\nWater Mill, New York\n\n Herzog &amp;amp; de Meuron, 2012\n\nTopped by a double-gable roof of white corrugated metal, the Parrish's strikingly horizontal new home melds brilliantly with its setting, nodding in form to both the traditional barns and the cottagelike artist studios that have long been associated with Long Island's East End.\nAnother exterior view of the 615-feet-long museum.\nInside the poured-concrete structure\u2014devised by architect Ascan Mergenthaler, a senior partner at the Swiss firm\u2014inviting galleries joined by a central spine are warmed by natural-wood ceilings and abundant skylights.\nGuangzhou, China\n\n Zaha Hadid Architects, 2010\n\nChina's building boom has produced some audacious projects, and few are as eye-popping as Hadid's performance center for the southern industrial city of Guangzhou. The venue consists of two dynamic fluid-form structures, the larger housing an undulating, gilded 1,800-seat hall and the smaller home to a more intimate 400-seat space.\nBoth buildings are clad in great expanses of steel-framed glass and granite panels\u2014the complexity of which led to challenges during construction and in ongoing maintenance. But the futuristic complex is an emphatic statement on the ambitions of 21st-century China.\nSeville, Spain\n\n J. Mayer H. Architects, 2011\n\nWhen excavation for a parking garage unearthed Roman artifacts in Seville's Plaza de la Encarnaci\u00F3n, city officials opted to commission this welcoming landmark instead.\nSome 90 feet high and nearly 500 feet long, the billowing timber pavilion is part pergola, part urban parlor. Viewing platforms are perched atop the organic forms, which also shelter restaurants and an archaeological museum.\nMississauga, Ontario\n\n MAD Architects, 2012\n\nThese residential high-rises strike a voluptuous profile in Toronto's largest suburb. With continuous balconies and elliptical floor plans, the 50- and 56-story skyscrapers appear to shimmy and twist, each around its own axis.\nSuch creative formmaking is the focus of the young Beijing firm, whose design was executed in coordination with Burka Architects. Founded by Yansong Ma in 2004, MAD has earned a reputation for innovative edifices such as Inner Mongolia's Ordos Museum. Like that project, the Absolute towers offer a refreshing take on a familiar building type."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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