{"id":384638,"date":"2026-01-01T11:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T11:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/384638\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T11:59:07","slug":"11-architecture-projects-set-to-shape-the-world-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/384638\/","title":{"rendered":"11 architecture projects set to shape the world in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n For American architecture, 2025 may be remembered for the deaths of icons Frank Gehry<\/a>, Robert A. M. Stern<\/a> and Ricardo Scofidio<\/a>, a mastermind of New York\u2019s High Line. More likely, however, it will go down as a year dominated by Donald Trump \u2014 his preference for classicism<\/a> and disdain for brutalism; his controversial demolition of the White House\u2019s East Wing; his clashes<\/a> with the designer of the ballroom replacing it; and his administration\u2019s move to exclude architecture<\/a> from its list of \u201cprofessional\u201d degrees.\n <\/p>\n

\n Much of this has brought the presidency into direct conflict with the industry\u2019s largest professional body, the American Institute of Architects (AIA). It perhaps came as no surprise that, amid the threat of national navel-gazing, the organization announced that it is awarding this year\u2019s prestigious AIA Gold Medal to a non-American, Japan\u2019s Shigeru Ban, for the first time this decade.\n <\/p>\n

\n Globally, there has been lots to celebrate. China\u2019s Liu Jiakun<\/a> won the Pritzker Prize, the \u201cNobel of architecture,\u201d for his understated academic and cultural buildings. A social housing development<\/a> in London and a humble concrete church<\/a> in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands meanwhile beat out flashier competition to win two of the profession\u2019s other biggest prizes.\n <\/p>\n

\n But 2026 may be shaped by bigger, blockbuster buildings. Among them are long-awaited museums, record-breaking skyscrapers and a soaring Catholic basilica almost 150 years in the making. Here are 11 of architecture projects \u2014 in the US and beyond \u2014 set to become the year\u2019s most talked-about:\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Some 144 years after it broke ground, the world\u2019s longest-running construction project is nearing completion. Well, in a sense.\n <\/p>\n

\n Work on Sagrada Familia\u2019s sculptures, decorative detailing and proposed main staircase will likely stretch into the 2030s. But this year should see the 564-foot-tall Tower of Jesus of Christ, the basilica\u2019s 18th and final spire (the 17 shorter ones are dedicated to the 12 apostles, four Evangelists and the Virgin Mary), finished in time for the centenary of architect Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s death in June.\n <\/p>\n

\n Gaud\u00ed only lived to see the first tower completed. The sheer complexity and decorative intricacy of his design, a surreal marriage of Gothic, Art Nouveau and nature-inspired forms, is partly behind the mind-boggling construction timeline. But funding shortfalls, bureaucratic hurdles and the Covid-19 pandemic all contributed, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n Perhaps the greatest challenge was the destruction of Gaud\u00ed\u2019s drawings and plaster models in 1936, when his workshop was set on fire amid the Spanish Civil War. Whether he would have approved of the church\u2019s final form \u2014 which is the best estimation of his plans<\/a> by subsequent generations of architects \u2014 will never be known. Though he probably wouldn\u2019t have minded the wait. \u201cMy client is in no hurry,\u201d Gaud\u00ed famously once said. He was, of course, referring to God.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n New York\u2019s taste in skyscrapers is changing. The era of sleek glass facades is making way for grander, brawnier towers that nod to America\u2019s architectural past. For evidence of this shift, look no further than the brooding silhouettes of the city\u2019s two newest \u201csupertalls\u201d: JPMorgan Chase\u2019s muscular, steel-heavy headquarters at 270 Park Avenue and the shadowy Brooklyn Tower, its crowned neo-Art Deco form clad in bronze and dark stone.\n <\/p>\n

\n The skyline\u2019s next major addition, 520 Fifth Avenue, looks to the Beaux-Arts style that flourished in America\u2019s Gilded Age. Topping out at 1,002 feet, the tower\u2019s terracotta arches evoke a bygone era, with the \u201crhythm<\/a>\u201d of the ones located on street level informed directly by the tower\u2019s 135-year-old Palazzo style neighbor, the Century Association. Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) also cite the arched Grand Central Terminal and New York Public Library as inspirations \u2014 as well as the stepped cityscapes envisaged by Hugh Ferriss, whose moody illustrations heavily influenced Batman\u2019s Gotham City.\n <\/p>\n

\n New York may feel a world away from the White House\u2019s push for a neoclassical revival (or to \u201cMake Federal Architecture Beautiful Again,\u201d as Donald Trump\u2019s executive order put it), but the city\u2019s growing deference for history could be another side of the same coin.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n For a few weeks in February, this 11.5-acre site in southeast Milan will house thousands of athletes participating in the 2026 Winter Games. But the important question surrounding Olympic villages, like Olympic stadiums, is: What happens next? The recent history of the Games, both summer and winter, features a trail of wasteful temporary housing or long-term residences that were difficult to sell (Rio de Janeiro), poorly maintained (Athens) or out of reach for low-income families (London).\n <\/p>\n

\n In Milan, Italy\u2019s most expensive rental market, architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed an Olympic Village that can convert into an affordable 1,700-bed student residence within months of the closing ceremony. Helpfully, many athletes\u2019 facilities \u2014 spaces for socializing, recreation and fitness \u2014 are needed by students, too. In fact, there\u2019s so much overlap that Italian real estate developer Coima promises to have it ready in time for the fall 2026 semester.\n <\/p>\n

\n The project also presented an opportunity for urban regeneration. In addition to designing six new buildings, the architects restored two historic structures on the site, a former rail yard. And while the \u201cvillage\u201d moniker suggests a walled-off community, SOM considers this to be a \u201cporous urban block\u201d connected to the surrounding Porta Romana district via public pathways and green spaces. Future Olympic legacy planners will be watching with interest.\n <\/p>\n

\"<em>The<\/p>\n

\n The recent death of Frank Gehry<\/a>, one of contemporary architecture\u2019s greats, gives altogether new meaning to the opening of the Guggenheim\u2019s long-awaited Abu Dhabi outpost. It was among several projects underway at the time of his passing (including Forma, a pair of stacked condominium skyscrapers in his Toronto birthplace), though this museum will surely be considered his swansong.\n <\/p>\n

\n A seemingly chaotic heap of curved and angular forms, varying in size, shape and texture, this is Gehry at his most playful. Yet, the design is not entirely self-referential: Its covered courtyards were inspired by those found across the Middle East, while the architect\u2019s cone-shaped volumes nod \u2014 albeit abstractly \u2014 to \u201cbarjeel,\u201d the traditional wind towers used across the region to passively cool buildings.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nonetheless, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi also owes a debt of gratitude to its Bilbao predecessor, a building considered by many to be Gehry\u2019s magnum opus. The emirate\u2019s leadership will also be hoping for a repeat of the architect\u2019s so-called \u201cBilbao Effect\u201d \u2014 a term now used any time an iconic museum puts a city on the map by attracting attention, tourism and investment \u2014 on Abu Dhabi\u2019s Saadiyat Island.\n <\/p>\n

\n Whether Gehry\u2019s death (or persistent construction delays) sets back the expected 2026 opening remains to be seen. When asked by CNN, a Guggenheim spokesperson simply said, \u201cWe look forward to announcing the official opening date in the future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Africa's<\/p>\n

\n Africa is set to welcome its new tallest building: The 1,381-foot Tour F (or Tower F) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Designed by Lebanese Ivorian architect Pierre Fakhoury, the 64-story skyscraper will surpass the current record-holder, Egypt\u2019s Iconic Tower, by less than 100 feet.\n <\/p>\n

\n This sixth tower in Abidjan\u2019s administrative district (after Tours A through E, which were all open by the early 1980s<\/a>), Tour F been part of the city\u2019s urban development plans for more than 50 years.<\/a> Ivory Coast has, however, experienced significant political upheaval in those decades, including civil wars in 2002 and 2010. So, while the angled planes of the building\u2019s glass facade are intended to evoke a stylized African mask, the tower\u2019s symbolism runs much deeper than that.\n <\/p>\n

\n Whether a \u201csupertall\u201d high-rise is even necessary in a city whose population density is about a quarter that of New York\u2019s is a legitimate question. But skyscrapers are not just about floor space. This one may project a message of stability to investors and the outside world.\n <\/p>\n

\n Transformative urban development projects are being planned across Abidjan, including a rapid transit system opening in 2028. A forthcoming 1,000-kilometer-long (621-mile) highway<\/a> connecting Ivory Coast to Nigeria (via the capitals of Ghana, Benin and Togo) meanwhile speaks to the economic potential of West Africa\u2019s \u201cAbidjan\u2013Lagos Corridor.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Shanghai Grand Opera House, Shanghai, China<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s nothing like a showpiece opera house to mark your city out as architecturally sophisticated. Just ask Sydney, Australia. In the last two decades, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Harbin<\/a> have joined the list of Chinese cities commissioning renowned designers to oversee their opera venues. Now it\u2019s Shanghai\u2019s turn.\n <\/p>\n

\n The task falls to Sn\u00f8hetta, a Norwegian architecture practice that has become something of a specialist in the field since opening a celebrated opera house in its home country\u2019s capital, Oslo, in 2008 (the firm also has forthcoming venues in Busan, South Korea; Diriyah, Saudi Arabia and D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany). In fact, the Shanghai Grand Opera House\u2019s design shares several key features with its Oslo cousin: a riverside location, an abundance of clean white surfaces and a flat profile that appears to emerge gently from the ground beneath.\n <\/p>\n

\n The iconic feature here, however, is a gravity-defying spiral staircase. It transports visitors to a huge rooftop plaza that (again, like Oslo\u2019s) is open to the general public. The ammonite-like staircase also serves a wider aesthetic function, sitting at the center of a radial plan that seems to unfold around it like a fan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Upon opening, the venue\u2019s three performance spaces \u2014 including a 2,000-seat main auditorium \u2014 will offer opera in both Western and Chinese traditions.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Regardless of design, a center dedicated to Barack Obama in Chicago\u2019s South Side was always going to get political. The former president\u2019s opponents have already taken aim at the project\u2019s soaring cost, the exclusion of a customary research library for unclassified archival documents (Obama\u2019s presidential records are being digitized) and the decision to let the Obama Foundation, not the National Archives and Records Administration, run operations.\n <\/p>\n

\n The fact the Obama Presidential Center is anchored by a 225-foot-tall, obelisk-like marble tower \u2014 which some are nicknamed the \u201cObamalisk\u201d \u2014 has provided further ammunition, with Republican senator Ted Cruz recently referring to it<\/a> as the \u201cDeath Star.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The New York-based architects behind the project, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, were an obvious choice. They were commissioned to co-design the US Embassy<\/a> in Mexico City during the Obama era; Joe Biden later appointed Tsien to chair the Commission of Fine Arts, the federal agency charged with advising the president on design. (She stepped down from the post earlier this year, shortly before Donald Trump fired the commission\u2019s remaining six members<\/a>.)\n <\/p>\n

\n According to a design statement from the pair\u2019s architecture firm, the showpiece museum tower \u201cechoes movement upward from the grassroots,\u201d its four faces intended to represent four hands coming together. The facade also features words from a speech that Obama gave to mark the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, the grassroots civil rights protests that helped secure African Americans\u2019 right to vote through the Voting Rights Act of 1965.\n <\/p>\n

\n But there is much else to be found across the nearly 20-acre Jackson Park site, including a fruit and vegetable garden, a wetland walk, an auditorium and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. The center is also collaborating with major artists including Chicago-born Theaster Gates, who is creating a large-scale collage frieze<\/a> about Black life using archival images from Ebony and Jet magazines.\n <\/p>\n

\"<em>The<\/p>\n

\n The Central Bank of Iraq\u2019s new headquarters represents a bittersweet homecoming for Zaha Hadid. It is the late British-Iraqi architect\u2019s only realized building in Baghdad, the city in which she was born and raised (before leaving to attend European boarding schools in the 1960s). But while Hadid oversaw the design, originally unveiled in 2011, her untimely death five years later meant she did not even live to see it break ground, let alone open.\n <\/p>\n

\n The tower represents an important moment for Iraq, too. Once closely controlled by dictator Saddam Hussein, the bank\u2019s turbulent recent history mirrors that of the country itself. Just hours before the US began bombing Iraq in 2003, Husain and his family stole around $1 billion<\/a> in what has been described as the largest bank heist of all time. The institution has since been subject of ongoing debates over its role and independence in reconstruction-era Iraq.\n <\/p>\n

\n With an exoskeleton blossoming out from a narrow base like a champagne flute, the 558-foot tower is a striking addition to Baghdad\u2019s distinctly low-rise skyline \u2014 albeit one that has been rapidly transformed by a recent construction boom. According to Hadid\u2019s firm ZHA, which has remained prolific since her death, the company\u2019s Instagram notifications are now full of young Iraqis proudly posting photos and videos of the tower while tagging Hadid\u2019s name.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n If any building can be forgiven for resembling a spaceship come to land, it should be the one housing George Lucas\u2019 new museum.\n <\/p>\n

\n The \u201cStar Wars\u201d creator\u2019s $1-billion ode to visual storytelling opens its doors in September, more than a decade after he first floated plans for an institution dedicated to \u201cnarrative art.\u201d For seven of those years, Angelenos have watched Chinese architect Ma Yansong\u2019s futuristic vision slowly come to life, its curved, elongated form appearing to levitate over its 11-acre site in South LA\u2019s Exposition Park.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Ma\u2019s design feels otherworldly, his philosophy is fundamentally rooted in nature. The MAD Architects founder\u2019s career-long crusade against straight lines and right angles is rooted in the idea that box-shaped buildings make cities feel \u201cartificial,\u201d he once told CNN. His vision for a \u201cShanshui city\u201d \u2014 designs drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese shanshui (literally \u201cmountain and water\u201d) landscape paintings \u2014 can be found across China, and his firm has recently completed buildings in Europe and North America, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n But with more 100,000 square feet of exhibition space, this is, by far, the most significant building completed by any Chinese-born architect on American soil (excluding the late I.M. Pei, who was born in Guangzhou but became a naturalized US citizen early in his career).\n <\/p>\n

\"State<\/p>\n

\n Billed as the largest overhaul of Melbourne\u2019s rail network in 40 years, Metro Tunnel is a major feat of engineering. Costing 13.48 billion<\/a> Australian dollars ($8.9 billion), the 10-year project connects numerous existing subway lines via two parallel 5.6-mile tunnels running deep \u2014 at points, more than 130 feet so \u2014 below the city center. After November\u2019s soft launch, February marks the \u201cBig Switch,\u201d when operators add 1,000 more weekly services and the tunnels are fully integrated into the wider network.\n <\/p>\n

\n The new stretch of rail is served by five much-needed downtown underground stations. They were named from over 50,000 suggestions submitted by members of the public, including Anzac, an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose bravery in battle is honored with a national remembrance day each April. Architecturally speaking, they are intended to forge visual connections with the streets above. For those closer to the surface, this means vast entranceways and skylights that bathe their concourses in light. Deeper ones, meanwhile, possess a more cavernous (or \u201ccathedral-like,\u201d as the architects put it) quality.\n <\/p>\n

\n The stations were a collaboration between three architecture firms, including Australian practice Hassell. In a statement, Hassell\u2019s principal, Mark Loughnan, said each was designed to \u201ccelebrate the joy and efficiency of travel.\u201d This may be a stretch for most Melburnian commuters, but they should certainly ease the transport demands facing a city that, in 2023, overtook Sydney<\/a> as Australia\u2019s most populous.\n <\/p>\n

OPPO Chang An R&D Center, Dongguan, China<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n From ancient Greek temples to medieval churches, where the money flows, architectural innovation often follows. In the 2020s, this means, among other places, the Chinese tech industry. Giants like Alibaba<\/a>, Tencent<\/a> and Xiaomi<\/a> have all splashed out on big-name Western architects to mastermind their sprawling campuses and high-rise headquarters in recent years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Smartphone manufacturer Oppo is also on a building spree. Around the turn of the decade, the electronics company commissioned a series of major facilities, all featuring motifs of circularity and interconnectivity: A research office,<\/a> often dubbed the \u201cInfinity Loop\u201d (by in-demand Danish architect Bjarke Ingels); a futuristic Shenzhen headquarters comprising four conjoined, pebble-like towers<\/a> (by Zaha Hadid Architects); and a huge R&D center envisaged as a series of interconnected circles (by US architects Kohn Pedersen Fox).\n <\/p>\n

\n The latter, located in the southern city of Dongguan, is expected to be the first to complete. Set across 115 acres, it is also the most staggering in scale. The project comprises 10 structures \u2014 seven of which are towers containing residences and serviced apartments for the 6,000 employees the campus will eventually accommodate. Despite spanning five city blocks and stretching across several major roads, the development\u2019s many facilities (including a college, preschool, exhibition space and retail) can all be accessed without stepping foot outside the campus.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For American architecture, 2025 may be remembered for the deaths of icons Frank Gehry, Robert A. M. Stern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-384638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}