Tour the 21 Most Stunning Examples of Modern Architecture Around the World

When Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei revealed the plans for the glass-and-steel pyramid that sits in the Louvre Museum’s courtyard, not everyone was a fan. Many saw the 75-foot high modern structure, inspired by Egypt’s Giza pyramids, as out of place in the 12th-century palace. But as time went by, Pei’s design became a destination in itself, attracting thousands of photo-snapping tourists. It also created a trend as other cultural organizations added similar structures to their buildings (namely, the Dolphin Center in London).

It took five years to build one of Dubai’s most prominent hotels. The seven-star Burj Al Arab was erected on a human-made island (that took three years to create) and involved the work of 250 designers. Lead architect Tom Wright modeled the hotel after a dhow, a traditional Arab fishing boat. The structure also features 20,000-square-feet of 24-carat gold leaf (and gold is something you’ll see—and taste—plenty of inside.)

Completed in 2010, the eye-catching buildings of the Guangzhou Opera were designed by Zaha Hadid. The famed architect drew inspiration from nature, and more specifically, from the opera’s riverside location. The glass-and-concrete asymmetrical structures are crafted to mirror the erosion of the river valleys.

Frank Lloyd Wright has designed many of the most famous midcentury modern buildings, but none of them as impressive as the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

He was commissioned for the project in 1943. Over the next 16 years, he would make more than 700 sketches to finalize the design. The museum opened its doors in 1959, with one critic calling it “the most beautiful building in America.”

When Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the competition to design Sydney’s new opera house in 1957, he searched for inspiration in nature and the ancient Mayan civilization. Utzon had visited Mexico before and was fascinated with Mayan and Aztec architecture, so he used some elements in his design—namely the platform in the performance hall.

Today, the striking shell-like silhouette of the opera’s façade is instantly recognizable around the world. The opera itself is one of the busiest concert halls in the world, and each year, more than 8 million people come to marvel at Utzon’s design in person.

The enormous 619,000-square-foot futuristic cultural center in Baku defies everything we know about architecture. The expansive structure has no visible connections and, because of its fluid shape, looks as if its swooping glass-and-polyester façade was poured out of a bottle and not built from the ground up. The building’s architect, Zaha Hadid, told Architect Magazine that her intention was for the structure to blend in with the surrounding plaza. “We wanted to take the plaza and shape it into an architectural environment, to create a continuous flow between inside and outside, to create a certain infinity. You don’t know where it all starts and ends,” she said.

Constructed for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, the Atomium was designed to replicate a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. It consists of nine 59-foot diameter spheres, six of which are inhabitable. The top one is actually a fine dining restaurant that serves Belgian cuisine and boasts magnificent views of the city.

Walking around Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay feels like you’ve been transported into a different world. The futuristic park is a stunning example of contemporary landscape architecture, blending futuristic design and lush greenery in the heart of the metropolis. The 100-acre property features tree-like structures that serve as vertical gardens connected by bridges, a dragonfly-like lake, an artificial waterfall, and a flower conservatory that is the largest glass greenhouse in the world.

Designed by Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen, St. Louis’s elegantly curved Gateway Arch symbolizes “a door to the West” and was built to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  The gleaming arch is 630 feet tall and towers over the Museum of Westward Expansion at its base.

Conceived in the late ‘70s by Dutch architect Piet Blom, Rotterdam’s peculiar Cube Houses residential complex is one of the most visually striking examples of modernist architecture. The structures are essentially cubes tilted at 45 degrees modeled after a forest—each triangular rooftop represents a treetop.

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This is one of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s most prominent and eye-catching buildings (along with the Oculus in New York City). The striking façade was inspired by Carioca culture and features a gravity-defying cantilevering roof. The museum is surrounded by an expansive plaza and houses exhibitions dedicated to the future of the planet.

This is one of Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry’s most groundbreaking works. Many credit the innovative building’s success, which draws millions of visitors each year, with revitalizing Bilbao’s economy. They call it the “Bilbao effect.” The boat-like structure completed in 1997 also revolutionized museum architecture, proving that museum buildings can be works of art in their own right.

The new World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan is a masterpiece of 21st-century architecture. The 104-story tower designed by SOM’s David Childs is made up of eight interlocking isosceles triangles. The building is 1,776 feet tall—a reference to the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Copenhagen’s Blue Planet aquarium opened its doors in 2013 and is one of the largest aquariums in Europe. The contemporary building was designed by Danish studio 3XN and is comprised of a series of curved wings that look like a whirlpool. But the ocean references don’t stop here—the structures are covered in glistening aluminum panels to resemble fish scales.

This gem of contemporary architecture is Frank Gehry’s interpretation of 19th-century glass and garden structures. The building consists of 12 “sails” made up of 3,600 custom-made glass panels peeking above the trees in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne park.

Also known as the Gherkin, London’s 590-foot tall 30 St Mary Axe office tower is impossible to miss. The architects, British firm Foster + Partners, covered the façade in a whopping 258,334 square feet of diamond-shaped glass panels. Interestingly, even though the shape of the award-winning building itself is circular, none of the glass panels are, except for the one on top of the building that serves as a dome.

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Singapore’s Changi Airport regularly ranks the best in the world. And its newest wing added in 2019, dubbed the Jewel, is a worthy addition to it not only in terms of amenities but also in terms of architectural value. Designed by Safdie Architects, the sprawling 1,460,660-square-feet complex “weaves together an experience of nature and the marketplace,” according to Moshe Safdie. The building’s shape is modeled after a geometrical torus, at the heart of which is a stunning waterfall—the Rain Vortex—that starts from the glass roof and showers water down to the center of the building.

Designed by famous architect Renzo Piano, who also created the Pompidou Center in Paris, the London Bridge Tower is the tallest building in the UK. Its nickname, The Shard, originated from its distinct silhouette that also looks like a shard of glass. The mixed-use building now houses offices, restaurants, residences, and the luxury Shangri-La Hotel, at The Shard, an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property.

Designed in a deconstructivist style, the Dancing House is the result of Croatian architect Vlado Milunić’s collaboration with Frank Gehry. The unusual shape was inspired by American dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers—the stone tower symbolizing Astaire and the glass one Rogers, who became a pop-culture phenomenon on this side of the Atlantic in the 1930s.

The CMG building is another shining example of deconstructivism that challenges our understanding of what a skyscraper is. Conceived by Dutch architecture firm OMA, the building interprets how a skyscraper would look like a loop and consists of two leaning towers that merge via a perpendicular cantilever.

Studio Gang’s Chicago Aqua Tower was built in 2010 and features one of the city’s largest rooftop gardens. Its façade, specifically the shape of the concrete slabs that stick out from each floor, was inspired by terrestrial topography. According to its architects, the building is an interpretation of “a vertical landscape made up of hills, valleys, and pools.”