CNN produces an annual report on the most anticipated new buildings. Whether for their design, their cultural impact or their notability, these buildings are the ones chosen for 2022:
- Sydney Modern Project (Australia)
On this site overlooking Sydney Harbour, the 19th-century Art Gallery of New South Wales is undergoing a $250 million expansion that will nearly double its floor space. Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and their firm SANAA plan to create an “art garden,” a plaza connecting the old and new buildings, and to plant 70% more trees on the site upon completion of the project. In addition, there will be a gallery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and another built in a dismantled World War II naval oil tank.
- San Pellegrino’s flagship factory in Bergamo (Italy)
After winning a design competition in 2017, Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) will renovate and expand the headquarters of Italian mineral water brand San Pellegrino this year. The site is both a bottling plant and a visitor attraction, and BIG’s design envisions incorporating classical Italian architecture into the building’s contemporary arched design, with porticoes, a large piazza and arches overlooking the surrounding valley.
- Qorner Tower in Quito, Ecuador
The idea of “garden skyscrapers,” or skyscrapers covered with plants, has been gaining traction in recent years since the completion of Milan’s Vertical Forest in 2014. The Qorner Tower is one of the latest examples, designed by the firm of architect Moshe Safdie, the building is composed of terraces stacked with trees and plants covering two sides, including a huge “living wall” populated with native plant species. The building will be one of the tallest in Quito, standing 24 stories high, providing incredible views for users of the infinity tree-lined rooftop pool.
- New Parliament building in New Delhi, India
A new Parliament building is part of a redevelopment project in the historic center of New Delhi. The building by the HCP architectural firm has a triangular shape that alludes to the sacred geometries of various religions, with two horseshoe-shaped chambers for the upper and lower chambers. The pressure is on to complete this building before the end of 2022, as this year marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence from Britain.
- Fotografiska in Berlin, Germany
This delicate renovation of Berlin’s historic Kunsthaus Tacheles into a German branch of the Fotografiska photography museum was carried out by two architectural firms: Herzog & de Meuron and M+. The interior will have three floors of exhibition space and will be designed by the Berlin studio Aisslinger. The 114-year-old building still retains graffiti from the 1990s left by its former residents when it was occupied by an art collective to save it from demolition.
- Aranya Cloud Center in Qinhuangdao (China)
The latest attraction in Qinhuangdao’s unlikely architectural center is a cultural center designed by MAD Architects, the firm founded by Ma Yansong, who is also designing the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. The Chinese architect’s quirky curves are showcased in the building’s polished, gleaming exterior, which reflects the lush surroundings; it is a “floating cloud by the sea,” as the firm coined in a press release. The center will house a theater and an exhibition space.
- Iconic Tower in the new administrative capital of Egypt
The Iconic Tower, one of 18 skyscrapers planned for the new Egyptian capital, which is being built from scratch less than 50 kilometers east of Cairo, will be the visual centerpiece of the city. It will be 80 stories and 1,263 feet tall, and will be the tallest building in Africa when completed. The design, by architecture and engineering firm Dar Al-Handasah in conjunction with design firm Perkins&Will, is inspired by the ancient pharaonic obelisks of Luxor, and features an illuminated crown that is intended to “convey a sense of strength and stability,” according to Dar Al-Handasah.
- Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown (United States of America)
From nearly 200 design proposals, the winning architects, SWA Group, are designing the long-awaited permanent Sandy Hook memorial. The memorial will serve to remember the lives lost in the deadly elementary school shooting and is scheduled to open to the public in December to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. The 1.8-acre monument will feature circular paths through woods and meadows and a water fountain, with a sycamore tree planted at its center, also in a spiral design. The circular design is intended to reflect the healing process, as co-designer Daniel Affleck said in a press release: “We wanted to recognize that the healing process does not end, but continues and grows.”
- Yongjia World Trade Center in Wenzhou (China)
China is known to be a canvas for experimental architectural design. The Yongjia World Trade Centre will be no exception: Dutch architecture firm UNStudio was inspired by the idea of precious objects on a tray to design the complex, which consists of four separate towers in four different locations along the river in the city of Wenzhou. Each high-rise building has frames that separate several vertical “neighborhoods” with gardens and lounges shared between the different frames.
The International Iberoamerican University (UNIB) offers studies related to this topic, such as:
Source: The striking architecture projects set to shape the world in 2022 Photo: All rights reserved
