Find the architecture in your locale stale and uninspired? For a cure, look no further than the competition held by Architizer to showcase the diversity and ingenuity in design around the world. Click through our gallery to see some of our favorite winners—as well as some pictures from the awards gala in New York on Thursday night.
Would dignified Parisians be caught bouncing their way across the Seine? In their proposal submitted in a competition to create for Paris a new and innovative landmark, the designers behind the plan want pedestrians to see Paris from “a unique spatial position: upright and leaping, upside down and tumbling, gliding above like a circus performer.”
Courtesy of Architizer
Imagine warming up in this sleek restaurant: Wildspitzbahn, the jury winner for restaurants, is a minimalist design that allows its surrounding landscape to provide the drama. The shape of the design is meant to mimic natural “snow architecture.”
Courtesy of Architizer
Located in one of the most multicultural areas of Copenhagen, the Superkilen approaches urban design in a manner rarely seen in Northern Europe. Highly conscious of the diversity of its neighborhood, the winner for landscapes and gardens asked residents to participate by nominating objects to fill the park with origins in 62 home countries. The hope, by the designers and the city, is that the effort will better integrate the city.
Courtesy of Architizer
This is not your average scenic overlook. Dramatic is really the only word to describe the view from the Trollstigen plateau, with its look at the deep fjords sought out by visitors to Norway.
Courtesy of Architizer
With its open-air feelings and fun rainbow stacks piercing the façade, the architects at Emmanuelle Moureaux may finally have provided us with a retail bank that truly is light and inviting, instead of the traditional options of ominous stone fortresses or unimaginative spaces dotting city streets worldwide. What else can one expect when the concept is based on a rainbow mille-feuille?
Courtesy of Architizer
Located near the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, the Autostadt has long been a tourist destination for car enthusiasts given its museum, pavilions, and factory tour. Now, with the addition of the Porsche Pavilion, the sleek and sexy cars will have a show space to match.
Courtesy of Architizer
With its butterfly-like shape, the Wuxi Grand Theatre is a sensational space representative of the many inspired buildings being constructed in China. Situated on a peninsula on a lake, the theater in both its design and function is a dreamy reprieve from the bustle of industrializing China.
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What does music look like in its architectural form? That is what Steven Holl Architects set out to accomplish at the Daeyang Gallery and House, which was inspired by a 1967 sketch by composer István Anhalt, Symphony of Modules.
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Similar to many cities around the world, Aarhus found itself faced with the question of how to transform an industrial part of the city (a container terminal) that is no longer used. The result: the spectacular Iceberg Dwellings. Hopefully the amount of natural light likely let in by the design will ameliorate any frigid feelings, given the congruity of the design and the climate.
Courtesy of Architizer
Historically known more for its fraught relationship with Russia, the country of Georgia has recently become a global destination for edgy building design pushed in large part by its government. That this much attention has been given to a rest stop demonstrates a people dedicated to design in all public spaces.
Courtesy of Architizer
The Dolomites have long provided inspiration for artists, and in Plasma Studio's Dolomitenblick, they find a worthy homage. Sheathed in a dark copper, the complex wows with its steep angles. The structure has a horizontally continuous look, yet is broken up by dramatic vertical incisions reminiscent of the steep mountain façade in the background.
Courtesy of Architizer
Felix Burrichter, editor of Pin-Up magazine, and designer Thom Browne, noted for first lady Michelle Obama’s inauguration outfit.
Prabal Gurung, fashion designer.
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Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia. Georgia was honored at the awards ceremony for the ingenuity the country has displayed in building design over the past decade.
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Joseph Altuzarra, fashion designer.
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Ricardo Scofidio & Liz Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
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Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of online glasses retailer Warby Parker.
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Marc Kushner, founder of Architizer; Soumaya Slim de Romero, daughter of Carlos Slim; and her husband, architect Fernando Romero.
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