Best new buildings of 2023: Traveller's 10 must-visit architectural marvels

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Best new buildings of 2023: Traveller's 10 must-visit architectural marvels

By Belinda Jackson
Updated
Notalhotel, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan.

Notalhotel, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan.

What does architecture need to get onto your travel wishlist? To be a record-breaker? To be cleverly reused and recycled? To be innovative and sustainable? All these conversations are happening in Copenhagen this year, as the 2023 World Capital of Architecture. The triennial event includes Open House opening buildings normally closed to the public, a run through the city with architects from around the world, and a world congress on the UN Sustainable Futures theme, "Leave No One Behind". If you're staying at home, the newly opened Sydney Modern by Japanese firm SANAA is ripe for exploration, while in Melbourne, the National Gallery of Victoria's 2022 architecture commission, Temple of Boom - a reimagining of the Parthenon by Melbourne practice NWMN, is open until October. See copenhagenincommon.kk.dk, artgallerynsw.gov.au, ngv.vic.gov.au

Read on for our mix of architectural stand-outs coming up in 2023, from super-tall skyscrapers to reimagined historic sites and quiet, thoughtful conversation starters.

2023 SERPENTINE PAVILION, LONDON, UK

Located in London's Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine Pavilion is a temporary showcase for leading and emerging talent – being awarded the commission to build the annual pavilion is a sure sign you've made it. The 2023 pavilion is by Lebanese born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh. Titled A table, the bio-sourced, low-carbon, timber structure is inspired by Toguna huts of Mali, West Africa, with a table at its centre. "Here we can eat, work, play, meet, talk, rethink and decide," says Ghotmeh, who designed the lightweight pavilion to be demountable and reusable after its London installation. See serpentinegalleries.org

GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, GIZA, EGYPT

More than 20 years since its foundation stone was laid, the world's biggest museum dedicated to a single civilisation is finally opening. Irish architects Heneghan Peng Architects won the international competition to build the GEM, which had to be large enough to accommodate a 3200-year-old, 83-tonne, 11-metre high colossus of the pharaoh Ramses II in its foyer. Sharp angles define the exterior walls of translucent stone, whose triangular motifs are lit by a dynamic light display each evening, and the building is designed to capture the view of its muse, the Pyramids of Giza, two kilometres away. See egypt.travel

RAKUDO-AN, TOYAMA, JAPAN

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Credit: Nik van der Giesen

An old farmhouse finds a new life as a small, luxury hotel, two hours north of Tokyo in Toyama Prefecture. In a bid to conserve the local culture while rejuvenating the region, the 120-year-old building has just three guest rooms and a restaurant, all surrounded by paddy fields on the Tonami Plain, populated by farming settlements featuring traditional architecture. The high-ceiling farmhouses, known as azumadachi, are made without nails or other metal, and the hotel's fittings and furnishings, including precious antiques, silk and washi paper, are all made locally. See rakudoan.jp

RICHARD GILDER CENTRE FOR SCIENCE, EDUCATION & INNOVATION, NEW YORK CITY, US

Credit: American Museum Of Natural History

A capacious, curved, four-storey atrium leads the curious from Columbus Avenue into the new Richard Gilder Centre, part of the American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869. Designed by Chicago's Studio Gang, the centre opens on February 17, 2023, and its pink granite walls house a public library and learning centre, an insectarium, a butterfly vivarium, and three floors of exhibits including fossils – selected from the Centre's 4 million scientific specimens. See amnh.org

KUNSTSILO NORDIC ART MUSEUM, KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY

Credit: Mendoza Partida/BAX

When it was built in 1935, the grain silo on the island of Odderoya, in Kristiansand in southern Norway, won awards for its design. The functionalist architecture, by Norwegian architects Arne Korsmo and Sverre Aasland is now reworked and reincarnated, this time by Mestres Wage and MX_SI architects. In its new role, the silo will contain the largest collection of Nordic modernist art and Sorlandets Kunstmuseum's permanent collection, meaning it has twice provided nourishment – once through food, now through art. Cutting into the silo's cylinders has created a cavernous main hall, with the remainder of the cylinders hovering above, a reminder of the original function of the building. See kunstsilo.no

NOTAHOTEL, OKINAWA, JAPAN

Ishigaki Island is one of the southernmost islands of subtropical Okinawa and the site of the new NotAHotel holiday home by Hokkaido architect Sou Fujimoto, who designed the 2013 Serpentine Gallery, and recently released the masterplan for Expo 2025 in Osaka. The house sleeps up to 10 in a series of subterranean rooms that open out to the ocean. Embedded into the landscape, with wild grasses planted over the low, circular roofs, the guest rooms, open living and dining rooms, sauna and open-air bath blend into nature, from afar appearing as pools in a remote meadow. See notahotel.com

THE CIEL, DUBAI, UAE

At 365 metres, The Ciel continues the global trend for supertall skyscrapers, which is defined as anything above 300 metres. And although it's nearly 500 metres shorter than the 828-metre Burj Khalifa, when it opens, The Ceil will be the world's tallest hotel. Located on a tiny footprint in the Dubai Marina district, the Ciel overlooks the Arabian Gulf and the Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye). London architecture company NORR – which also designed the landmark Atlantis hotel – set Ciel's 1100 rooms in an 82-floor glass-and-metal tower, with an open-air infinity pool set in a void at 320 metres and an observation tower on the 81st floor. See thefirstgroup.com

PAC, NEW YORK CITY, US

Credit: LUXIGON/PAC

The Ronald O Perelman Performing Arts Centre – already shorted to "the PAC" – is an integral part of the rebuilding of the 6.5 hectare World Trade Centre site under a masterplan approved in 2003. The PAC was designed by Joshua Ramus of REX NY and will seat up to 950 people in three adaptable theatres, with a plaza beneath the giant cube. The three-storey building, adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial and Santiago Calatrava's Oculus, is wrapped in 5000 Portuguese marble tiles, laminated with glass so the building glows, "serving as a living testament to the power of the arts to inspire and unite". See theperelman.org

MERDEKA 118, MALAYSIA

Malaysians love a record-busting building: Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers were the world's tallest for six years until 2004. Nearly 20 years later, the stakes are much, much higher, and the world's second-tallest building, Merdeka 118, is found in the heart of Malaysia's capital. Designed by Melbourne firm Fender Katsalidis, the 678.9-metre-high building's glass facade is inspired by the geometric patterns found in Malaysian art and crafts. The 118-storey building, located where Malaysia's independence was declared in 1957 ("merdeka'' means "independent" or "free" in Malay), topped out in 2021; occupants will include a Park Hyatt hotel at its peak, and the country's biggest shopping mall at its feet. See merdeka118.com

FACTORY INTERNATIONAL, UK

Credit: OMA

Manchester gets a new cultural space, courtesy of Rotterdam headquartered practice OMA. It's taken nearly $200 million to repurpose Manchester's old Granada Studios site into a cultural centre for the north of England, the new home of the Manchester International Festival biennale. Old concrete, corrugated metal and brick warehouses are integrated into the new build to create a moveable, responsive art space. "Everything turns inside out, everything turns upside down," says OMA architect Ellen Van Loon, who led the design. Factory International opens in June. See factoryinternational.org

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