14 of the most unique buildings in the world
See 14 eye-catching structures across the world that are in the running to be Building of the Year at 2024's World Architecture Festival.
Egemen Karakaya
- The World Architecture Festival revealed its 2024 "Building of the Year" shortlist.
- Hundreds of entrants submitted completed buildings to be recognized in this year's competition.
- Business Insider selected 14 impressive buildings shortlisted this year.
Every year, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) recognizes a "Building of the Year," and the 2024 shortlist includes some of the world's most incredible buildings.
Over 350 buildings were entered into the completed buildings category, and 225 were shortlisted. Other categories include future projects, landscaping, and "Inside," which judges the interior design of buildings.
The completed entrants feature converted buildings, like a former police station in Beijing turned urban park, uniquely shaped libraries, and one-of-a-kind houses.
Last year, Huizhen High School — a boarding school in Ningbo City, China, whose campus effectively uses vertical space and includes a floating forest — won the World Building of the Year award.
One hundred forty judges, representing 68 countries and made up of professionals in the architecture world, will review submissions and select the winners during the November festival.
In the meantime, Business Insider rounded up 14 of the most eye-catching nominees shortlisted in this year's competition.
HGEsch Photography
Atlantis The Royal is a hotel in Dubai that looks like it was made with Jenga blocks. The 1,640-foot-long, 584-foot-tall structure features rectangular blocks stacked on top of each other — the spaces in between are used as pools, lounges, and cabanas, according to its WAF bio.
World Architecture Festival.
The Artyzen Singapore is a hotel designed by Ong&Ong that was completed in 2023. According to Arch Daily, it was conceptualized as an "oasis in the city." The hotel has 20 floors, a rooftop pool, sky gardens, and multiple restaurants.
The original structure was built in the 1940s as a garden mansion.
Faraz Fadaian
This four-story, brutalist house in Tehran, Iran, is composed of a cluster of concrete squares configured in an interesting shape.
DCM Jakarta
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, houses a unique office space for wood-processing company DSN Group. The building uses upcycled waste products, and most of the materials were sourced in Indonesia, according to the building's WAF bio.
Approach Design Studio/Nature Image
The Folding Park, completed in 2019, is a repurposed police station that is now an office building in Beijing.
The building has incorporated a park into its F-shaped structure, encircling the building with plants, swings, hammocks, and slides.
Ademola Olaniran & Jide Atobatele
This museum in Lagos, Nigeria, looks like it's built into the side of a hill.
"If you go to a Western museum, the African section is often in the basement, it's dark. But this museum pops with color and sound to highlight the vibrancy and the dynamism of the Yoruba culture," the site's architect Seun Oduwole told The Guardian upon its completion in 2024.
Egemen Karakaya
More than 400 miles outside Istanbul, in Konya, Turkey, sits an energy facility in the desert. Its central control building has a facade made up of two panels that minimize radiation and prevent high heat exposure.
Speaking to Global Design News, architecture firm Bilgin Architects described it as "an interface representing new energy technologies in a flat topography extending to the horizon."
Adam Mørk
A 466-foot-tall residential tower in Aarhus, Denmark, stands as the tallest building in the country. Right next to Aarhus Bay, the building features a public rooftop restaurant with views of the city.
The project was built in two phases, according to its WAF bio — the first focusing on the smaller surrounding buildings and the "waterfront promenade," and the second constructing the tower.
Brett Boardman
According to Architecture Au, the Liverpool Civic Place in New South Wales, Australia, will house council chambers, community facilities, commercial offices, a hotel, a public library, and an art gallery. The development is set to cost 600 million Australian dollars, or about $400 million.
Stage one, completed in 2023, included the first commercial tower, new council chambers, a library, and an art gallery. Stage two includes a second commercial tower with the hotel.
Darren Soh, Eurthe
The Pan Pacific Orchard is another hotel in Singapore with a unique shape, reminiscent of a snake. It houses 350 rooms in four separate blocks, each with its own sky terrace.
The building essentially looks like a vertical garden.
World Architecture Festival
This cancer treatment center is located in Melbourne, Australia. The building — which cost 152 million Australian dollars, or about $100 million — opened in April 2024.
The external design is based on the idea of a "healthy epidermis," the outermost layer of skin, according to the World Buildings Directory.
Brigida González
The Texoversum Innovation Center, located in Reutlingen, Germany, almost looks like a pencil sketch made into a building.
Completed in 2023, it's used as a research center for the textile industry.
World Architecture Festival.
A helical structure in San Andrés Cholula, Mexico, is one of the more uncommonly shaped apartment buildings in the world.
The building, with 93 luxury apartments inside, has 34 floors and is nearly 500 feet tall.
Location Shooting.
The Xiangyang National Sports Center Project is a stadium and fitness center in Xiangyang City, which is in China's Hubei province.
The stadium has 30,000 seats and the entire facility spans about 34 acres, according to its WAF bio.