As 2019 winds down, we're taking a look ahead to the projects we're most looking forward to in 2020. With a mix of cultural and commercial programs, the designs are located across five continents, with many under construction for multiple years. Designed across a wide range of scales, they represent a mix of interconnected landscapes, museums, and the world's newest skyscrapers.
2020 will see the completion of projects and pavilions alike. Expo 2020 Dubai will open next year under the theme Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. Organized around ideas of Sustainability, Mobility and Opportunity, the next world Expo will be the first to be held in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. The Expo represents a celebration of architecture that lies ahead, and the world's newest projects reflect the beginning of this new decade.
Below, the projects we most look forward to seeing in 2020:
Audrey Irmas Pavilion by OMA
OMA New York released initial details of its design for the Audrey Irmas Pavilion in 2018, a new addition to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, California. The OMA scheme seeks to “forge new connections within the existing campus and create a new urban presence to engage Los Angeles.” Having won a competition for the pavilion's design in 2015, the project represents the firm’s first commission from a religious institution and their first cultural building in California.
Winter Park Canopy by Adjaye Associates
Adjaye Associates created a design for the new public library and events center located in the city of Winter Park, Florida.The $30 million project will replace and existing library and civic center structures with a series of three pavilions described by the architects as a “micro-village.” Each pavilion will house a different program element, but will share a common formal language including structural arches inspired by local fauna and the region’s vernacular architecture, vaulted roof lines, and sweeping windows.
Vista Tower by Studio Gang
Defining a new edge of the city, Vista Tower will be the third tallest building in the Chicago skyline when complete. Lifted at the center, it knits the downtown Lakeshore East community to its surroundings with unprecedented urban connections and enhanced public access to the Chicago River. Looking up from the river and park, the tower presents itself as three interconnected volumes of differing heights. Moving rhythmically in and out of plane, the overall flowing appearance of the building is the result of an alternating geometry between these three volumes.
Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center by MAD Architects
The "Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center" is nearing completion. The city-scale urban project is MAD's largest development thus far. The design encompasses the traditional Eastern philosophy of cooperation between humanity and nature in a modern setting by seeking to restore the harmony between humans and the environment through the creation of integrated, contemplative spaces that while immersing inhabitants in nature, still meets the conveniences of modern life.
Atrio Towers by Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners + The Mazzanti Team
ATRIO is a major mixed-use commercial development in central Bogotá comprising two towers – North and South – with a large, open public space at ground level. At 42 floors (201 metres) and 58 floors (268 metres) high respectively, the towers provide a total of more than 250,000 m² of office space, public services and retail with up to 72,000 people expected to pass through each day.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium by Kengo Kuma and Associates
Construction is well underway on Kengo Kuma’s design for the Tokyo 2020 National Olympic Stadium. The stadium will be located on the site of Kenzo Tange’s 1964 Tokyo Olympic Stadium, which was demolished to make way for the new structure. The three-tiered, 80,000-seat wooden lattice stadium replaces the original stadium design by Zaha Hadid Architects and is being constructed for the opening ceremony on July 24, 2020.
Pier55 by Heatherwick Studio
The $170 million Pier 55 was designed by Thomas Heatherwick’s studio as a lush, undulating landscape, raised atop 300 mushroom-shaped concrete columns placed 186 feet off of the Hudson River shoreline. Functioning as both an outdoor performance venue and a marine sanctuary, the scheme was made with an 800-seat amphitheater accessed via two doc-like pathways connecting back to the New York City shoreline.
Audemars Piguet Hôtel des Horlogers by Bjarke Ingels Group
BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group designed the Audemars Piguet Hotel des Horlogers as a ski hotel set in the scenic Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. The compact scheme, designed in collaboration with Cche Architecture, is defined by a zig-zag form seamlessly integrated into the smooth topography of the surrounding valley, forming a connection with the nearly Musée Atelier. The scheme consists of five zig-zagging components, softly tilted to merge into a continuous exterior path from roof to ground, inviting guests to descend on skis towards the trails of the Valle de Joux.
Gardenhouse by MAD Architects
MAD's first residential project in the US is nearing completion. Bringing the nature that is found in the adjacent foothills of Los Angeles into Beverly Hills, "Gardenhouse" mimics a small hill, wrapped in the largest outdoor living wall in the US to date. Designed with an 18-unit residential village atop commercial space, clustered white glass villas and trees ascend upward contouring the Beverly Hills skyline, providing a distinctive streetscape along the iconic Wilshire Boulevard.
São Paulo Rosewood Tower by Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel unveiled the design of his tower project back in 2016: the 22-story building is located near Avenida Paulista in São Paulo. The skyscraper, dubbed Rosewood Tower, is part of Cidade Matarazzo, a 27,000-square-meter site containing historic buildings that once made up the Filomena Matarazzo maternity hospital. A heritage-listed site, the Allard Group is restoring the buildings and creating a cultural center, of which Nouvel’s new tower will be a central component. Set to contain a hotel as well as residential units, Nouvel’s tower is designed to be a vertical continuation of the local landscape.
550 Madison Avenue by Snøhetta
One of New York’s most iconic Postmodern skyscrapers, the Philip Johnson-designed 550 Madison (formerly AT&T Building) is undergoing a renovation that followed controversy over recent years. Snøhetta aims to build on Johnson’s foundation, reinterpreting 550 Madison for today: bringing in daylight and air, designing a ground floor podium that will become a entrance destination, and creating an adjacent greenscape.
1,000 Trees by Heatherwick Studio
Heatherwick Studio is nearly completion on the 1,000 Trees Development in Shanghai. The 300,000-square-meter project was conceived as a piece of topography that takes the shape of "two tree-covered mountains" populated by 400 terraces and 1000 structural columns. The megaproject is located on Shanghai's Moganshan Road, proximate to the city's M50 Art District. The latest images released show a project design to grow from its context and connect to the adjacent river.
Grand Egyptian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects
The competition for the project was held back in 2003 and drew nearly 2000 entries from 83 countries. Heneghan Peng's design on a desert plateau adjacent to the great Pyramids of Giza and Cairo will be the largest single collection of Egyptian artifacts and, at 100,000m2, one of the largest museums in the world. It will include extensive gallery space, conference facilities, libraries, and research facilities in addition to space dedicated to public programming.
Santiago International Airport by ADPi and Luis Vidal + architects
Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Chile is an important connecting hub between America, Oceania and Europe and is among the most efficient and modern in Latin America. The growing number of flights demand caused the Chilean Ministry of Public Works (MOP) to set a project in motion for the extension of the infrastructures which includes the renovation of the existing terminal, the construction of a new international terminal, car park and other auxiliary buildings, water treatment facilities and a power plant. The airport in Santiago is set to open next year.
Eisenhower Memorial by Gehry Partners
The Frank Gehry-designed Eisenhower Memorial broke ground in Washington DC back in 2017 following a tumultuous years-long approval process. Honoring the United States’ 34th president, the memorial is conceived as a park-like setting featuring a 25-meter-tall columns supporting a series of woven metal tapestries depicting scenes from Eisenhower’s hometown of Abilene, Kansas. Stacked stone blocks will also display sculptures and reliefs of key moments from Eisenhower’s legacy.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Renzo Piano Building Workshop
The Academy of Motion Pictures Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop is nearing completion along the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. Piano’s design consists of the renovation of the May Company department store located at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, as well as a new glass sphere addition that will house the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater. Set for opening in 2020, the project aims to become the world’s premier institution dedicated to movies.
Bee'ah Headquarters by Zaha Hadid Architects
The Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Bee’ah Headquarters has topped out in late 2017 in Sharjah, UAE. With a design inspired by the form of sand dunes and oriented to optimize prevailing winds, the complex is striving for the highest standards of renewable energy and sustainable future targets, a goal for the new headquarters of the UAE's leading integrated environmental & waste management company. In addition to a zero waste to landfill goal, the headquarters is designed as a zero net energy consumption building.
Mira by Studio Gang
MIRA is an urban residential development in the heart of San Francisco. Just blocks from the Bay Bridge, Embarcadero, and Rincon Park, the 400-foot-tall tower creates a welcoming new community in the evolving Transbay district and accommodates a wide range of units, with 40 percent designated below market rate. The design evolves the classic bay window, a familiar feature of San Francisco’s early houses, reimagining it in a high-rise context.
Valle San Nicolás by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
This residential project and riding club is under design and will be located in Valle de Bravo in Mexico. In the past several decades, the town has transformed from a colonial settlement with small posada hotels around the lake. Part of what draws tourists to the area, especially Mexico City residents, is nature. Avandaro lake is the result of a 1930s hydroelectric project, and in 1971, Valle de Bravo was known as typical city (ciudad típica) and magical town (pueblo mágico) in 2005. The new project by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos rethinks the residential experience of the lake house typology.
111 West 57th Street by SHoP Architects
Centered over Central Park in Midtown Manhattan, 111 West 57th Street, the second tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, topped out last month at 1,428 feet. Designed by SHoP Architects with interior architecture by Studio Sofield, the tower is considered the most slender skyscraper in the world. The slender 91-story tower, expected to be completed in 2020, has maximized views to the park and city thanks to full-floors residences with sights on Central Park to the north and the city skyline in all directions.
Have we missed any projects? Let us know here.
