Spectacular Skylines: Top 12 Infrastructure and Architecture Marvels of 2024
Hold your horses, folks! 2024 is set to be the year where architectural magic will not only meet the eye but also embrace the sky! We've got a yummy menu full of architectural wonders ready to tantalize your aesthetic taste buds, from a brutalist pyramid's makeover to forest-themed libraries. Our cities are about to be gifted with some new profile pictures, courtesy of these innovations. So ready your necks, people. There's going to be a lot of looking up to do! These masterpieces will redefine city skylines, potentially bruising a few egos, *ahem* Empire State Building *ahem* Burj Khalifa.
City skylines are all set to don a new look, with each structure striving to assert its dominance. What a time to be alive, isn't it? Grab some popcorn as we embark on this visual ride to the future (I promise, no 3D glasses needed!).
The Pyramid of Tirana, Albania
As we step into the year 2024, we're greeted, not by the usual flat house block or your everyday office building, but a triangle! Yes, you heard it right, a triangle! The Pyramid of Tirana, originating from Albania, is up for a complete transformation (just like me, every New Year).
Hold your breath folks, because this ain't your typical renovation. The pyramid is not just going under the knife; it's going to get an extreme makeover!
This 'Brutalist Pyramid' was all about 'Real-Politik', but now it will wear the charm of quirk and aesthetics!
Now, the magician behind this transformation you ask?
None other than MVRDV. I mean, when your project architect's name sounds more like a sci-fi robot than a human, you can bet the project's going to be out of this world. Savvy indeed, MVRDV is an all-star in reimagining structures, and I can hardly wait for their rendering of my future house!
Their approach is to create not just a building, but a cultural icon, a tourist hotspot, an Instagram influencer's best friend, and most critical of all, a peculiar pigeon hangout. So people, prep yourself to witness this existential crisis of a building standing at the crossroads of brutalism and ultra-modernism. This is an architectural live soap opera, and I know we're all secretly dying to see the cliff-hanger!
Revamp of Airport in Thailand
There's some serious buzz in the air as we anticipate the expansion of an airport in Thailand that's set to raise its annual visitor capacity from "meh" to a whopping 25 million. Expected to eventually soar to 40 million once the second phase is completed, this architectural revamp will leave you utterly breathless (and not just from the rapid increase in air traffic).
Kudos to the skilled minds at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; these savvy designers have chosen to go with a nature-inspired theme, which they've ever-so-innovatively baptized as "terminal in a garden." Groundbreaking, right? These interconnected structures, adorned with landscape spaces, plants, and charming bamboo-clad pavilions, pose a serious challenge to Singapore’s famous Changi Airport.
Who needs movies when you're surrounded by indoor waterfalls and rattan furnishings rivaling the Garden of Eden?
So, if airport hopping is your thing, it's time to delay that globetrotting bucket list and make sure you touchdown in Thailand in 2024 for a one-of-a-kind, Instagram-worthy experience. On the agenda: marvel at the organic décor, stroll among the bamboo pavilions, and bask in the glow of yet another unforgettable achievement in the world of architecture.
Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Egypt
Ah, the Grand Egyptian Museum, our very own soap opera of architecture! Luring audiences in with the promise of an unveiling since it was declared at the dawn of 2002, it's been the cliff-hanger of the construction world. It has even had reruns in other lists of "anticipated" architectural novelties (not naming names, but this list might have featured it a half-decade ago).
Anyway, we are expecting, God-willing, that 2024 will be the grand premiere of the show. Costing over 1 billion (clap, clap for Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities), you'd almost wonder if they're housing the Pharaohs themselves. But no, they're sticking with 'just' our human history's most affairs of state, relics!
Now to the fun part.
The architectural mastermind duo, Heneghan Peng, has given this museum a face so unique you'd recognise it from Mars. They clearly took playing with blocks seriously as kids. The result: 5.2-million-square-foot of Bohemian Grove! From the inside, it's a city comprising exhibition spaces, a conservation center, and an atrium with excessively high ceilings, enough to make even Ramses II feel small. The triangular, glass-fronted facade gives a cheeky wink to the neighboring Pyramids of Giza. Sleek, isn't it? Hopefully, the next time we talk about the museum, it won't be anticipation but admiration! Onward then, to our next spectacle, the National Library of Israel.
National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Whoops! The National Library of Israel is having a bit of an existential crisis. Bursting at the seams with an overwhelming trove of books, manuscripts, and photographs, it has finally said in its most polite library whisper, "Enough is enough! I need my space!" Thus, the plan for a swanky new library building right next to the Knesset came into being.
Having a neighbor like the parliament, it's hard not to be influenced. So, they decided to go with it! The building's alluring upper volume looks like a giant rock chunk with a touch of local limestone adorning the cement.
Somebody took 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do' quite literally, didn't they?
Though hey, it lends a significant nod to Jerusalem's historic color palette. Not just a massive, photogenic rock, the insides are a bibliophile's fantasy. There's an auditorium, a youth center, and various exhibition spaces. And at the heart of it all, sits the colossal 50,500-square-foot reading area, looking like a scene straight out of a Harry Potter book, minus the moving staircases (probably).
So, one of the architectures to look out for in 2024 - a perfect marriage between infrastructure and innovation. A sight to behold and a story to tell! I mean, where else would you see a ‘rock’ housing millions of ‘papers’? Here’s to more paradoxes in architecture!
Some Other Big Bang Projects
Alright, moving right along! Now that we're all experts on libraries and pyramids, it's time to plunge into some other architectural wonders we're on tenterhooks for in 2024. Hold onto your hats, folks.
First up, we've got more designs from MVRDV. Yes, they're not just conquering pyramids over in Albania. They're taking on a detour to tackle a mixed-use complex in Rotterdam. Given their ambition, don't be surprised if they try to turn this into the world's first floating apartment block. It screams sustainability and classic MVRDV madness, in equal dollops. A short hop, skip, and a jump away, we find ourselves in Kuwait, overlooking TAEP/AAP's burger restaurant with a large stepped roof. Now, that's an actual burger joint. I don't know what’s more alluring; the burgers or the architecture.
Architecture or food cravings, anyone? The world's your oyster, and as we blast off, we can marvel at Sharjah's concrete arts center. The brainchild of Tadao Ando, the design literally weighs a ton (figuratively, of course). The best part? The concrete look is so last season—-they're in style for 2024.
And that, dear readers, is just the tip of the architectural iceberg landing in 2024. So buckle up, as these masterpieces won't just fill your Instagram feed, but also shape our world's future. Now, let's get back to the ground and keep the ball rolling!
2024 Marvels: The Grand Finale
Ah, the grand finale - where we toot our own horns and tell you how these awe-inspiring architectural projects of 2024 will shake things up and redefine the world of design (drumroll, please).
These spectacular structures will turn heads, snap Insta-worthy pics, and inspire future generations of architects to create even more jaw-dropping masterpieces.
So, as we toast to these upcoming marvels, let's not forget the impact they'll have on our skylines and urban landscapes, especially since they're, you know, *kind of* a big deal. Get ready, folks! Skylines around the world are about to get even more fabulous, and we're here for it (with popcorn in hand). Cheers to the 2024 architectural scene!
