Eleven architectural endeavors poised to mold the global landscape in 2025
In March, the esteemed Pritzker Prize was surprisingly bestowed upon Japanese housing innovator Riken Yamamoto, while a minor school in suburban Australia was later recognized as having the finest new construction at the World Architecture Festival.
As the year 2025 approaches, it's probable that we'll once again witness the celebration of grand infrastructural projects and engineering marvels. However, smaller-scale designs and those that embody genuine environmental considerations may also bask in global recognition. From trailblazing timber buildings to one of Asia's most significant new airports, here are 11 projects set to debut over the next 12 months.
New Sydney Harbour Fish Market, Sydney
The world's third-largest fish market is expanding yet again.
Some eight years after the New South Wales government announced the relocation of Sydney's historic fish market, which traces its roots to the 1870s and has been in its current location since 1966, the gleaming new four-story building is set to open on an adjacent 3.6-hectare plot. Designed by 3XN Architects and Australian firm BVN, the revamped facility aims to strike a balance between tourist amenities and the operational realities of a wholesale market. The lower levels contain logistical and operational spaces, while the upper floors offer a market hall for visitors and an auction hall where restaurateurs and retailers bid on fresh catches delivered via pontoons.
In addition to revitalizing a harbor-side industrial area, the project will also feature retail stores, restaurants, a promenade, and an urban park. The iconic undulating roof will also be adorned with 350 triangular solar panels.
Osaka Grand Ring, Osaka
Osaka, Japan's second-largest city, plans to welcome an estimated 28 million visitors between April and October 2025 for Expo 2025, during which approximately 40 countries will erect custom pavilions on site. The main attraction, however, will be the venue itself – Osaka Grand Ring, a continuous circular wooden structure over a mile in circumference, traversing the entire site.
Expo venues often serve as a reflection of their host city's design ethos. When Osaka first hosted the Expo in 1970, it built a massive space-frame roof designed by some of the most renowned avant-garde Japanese architects of the time. In an era where timber buildings provide an alternative to carbon-intensive concrete, it seems fitting that the Osaka Grand Ring's architect, Sou Fujimoto, will present a distinctively Japanese approach to the global timber trend using local cedar and cypress wood, as well as Scottish pine, in a modern construction with traditional Japanese wooden joints. The structure will span nearly 646,000 square feet, making it one of the world's largest wooden buildings. Its temporary status is a source of ongoing debate.
Life and Mind Building, Oxford
While the University of Oxford is synonymous with grand Gothic architecture, it also operates numerous contemporary structures scattered throughout the city. The latest addition to its portfolio, a new 270,000-square-foot life sciences building, concludes the university's largest construction project in its centuries-long history.
The Life and Mind Building's design concept centers around uniting the departments of experimental psychology, plant sciences, and zoology under one roof to foster increased collaboration and engagement between disciplines. Inside, lab spaces cater to each discipline's unique needs, while a public plaza offers space for casual interactions. The American architecture firm behind the project, NBBJ, utilized traditional university architecture elements, including stone facades and projected buttresses, to create a "timeless but recognizable appearance."
Canadian School, Cholula
Organic architecture often seamlessly integrates into the surrounding landscape, leaving minimal impact. The Canadian School in Cholula, Mexico, conceived by architectural firm Sordo Madaleno, serves as an exemplary representation of this philosophy.
Inspired by the region's topography, including a nearby pre-Hispanic pyramid and the looming Popocatépetl volcano, the school features seven circular structures arranged to resemble overlapping hills, offering green spaces for students to explore. Mexican architect Fernando Sordo Madaleno noted that the building would not only blend with the environment but also become a part of the students' playground.
Techo International Airport, Phnom Penh
Cambodia aims to replace its capital Phnom Penh's existing international airport with a new facility capable of handling six times the current number of visitors. This move is part of the country's efforts to strengthen its tourism sector and establish itself as a regional aviation hub, with an initial capacity of 13 million annual passengers that will eventually grow to 30 million.
The terminal building is situated 12 miles south of the city center, making it one of Southeast Asia's largest. Foster + Partners, the project's architects, have incorporated an onsite solar farm to make it among the greenest airports globally. Influenced by traditional Cambodian design, the terminal's main roof is supported by a series of wooden "trees," and real trees will thrive in a central atrium. Digital renderings portray the structure's gridded steel shell filtering daylight and illuminating an expansive interior adorned with tropical greenery, while passengers will traverse the facility via two airfoil-shaped wings.
The expansion of Boston's South Station, the busiest ground transport hub in New England, is nearing completion this year. Upon completion, the redevelopment project will boost the terminal's bus capacity by 50% and rail capacity by 70%.
From an architectural standpoint, the challenge for American firm Pelli Clarke & Partners was not only to reinvent the hub's concourse and construct a 51-story skyscraper above it, but also to preserve the original Classical Revival station building. Esteemed under the US National Register of Historic Places since 1899, the structure's distinction inspired a delicate balance between modern and traditional design elements.
The resulting juxtaposition - gleaming glass and weathered stone - presented a stark contrast. However, the tower's sculptural silhouette sought to harmonize with its historical counterpart, while the expanded arched concourse offered visitors a more regal entry into the city.
Goethe-Institut, Dakar
In 2022, Burkinabe architect and first African winner of the Pritzker Prize, Francis Kéré, used his global platform to breathe new life into the built environment in his native continent. Kéré, an advocate for "vernacular" design, favors traditional building materials and construction techniques.
His vision for the Senegalese branch of Goethe-Institut, the German cultural exchange center, embodied this approach. The building's gentle curves followed the outline of the surrounding canopies, and it was constructed primarily from locally sourced bricks arranged in lattice formations for natural ventilation.
Speaking to CNN in 2022, Kéré emphasized the importance of local materials, stating, "The more you use, the better you can encourage local economies and build local knowledge, which also fosters local pride."
Urban Glen, Hangzhou
More than a decade after the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing became China’s most celebrated contemporary building, its co-designer Ole Scheeren continued to leave his mark on the country. Scheeren’s firm, Büro Ole Scheeren, had several significant projects in progress, from Shenzhen to Nanjing.
Among the most striking was Urban Glen, two stepped towers containing 887,000 square feet of office, hotel, and leisure space in the eastern city of Hangzhou. The buildings, which housed a Rosewood Hotel, appeared to descend into a valley of roof terraces, shops, and public art, emulating the surrounding hills.
Riyadh Metro, Riyadh
Saudi Arabia's 2020s marked the unveiling of numerous ambitious architectural ventures, from a linear metropolis to a towering cube-shaped skyscraper. However, inception of a metro system in Riyadh can be traced back to over a decade ago.
Comprised of six lines, the extensive network promised to change how the city operated, accommodating a daily capacity of 3.6 million passengers. Above ground, the metro stations emerged as visual spectacles, with Zaha Hadid Architects and German firm Gerber Architekten among the prominent foreign firms invited to design some of the 85 stations.
The inauguration took place in November, and many lines went into operation last month. Still, completion wasn't scheduled until the new year. One of the most anticipated stations yet to open was Norwegian firm Snøhetta’s Qasr Al Hokm, whose stainless-steel canopy provided shade and dispersed natural light into the cavernous interior.
Skypark Business Center, Luxembourg
Europe has pushed the boundaries of wooden construction, requiring all new public buildings in France to include at least 50% timber. Luxembourg was soon to welcome one of the continent's largest hybrid wooden buildings: the Skypark Business Center.
The building, encompassing over 844,000 square feet of space, was constructed using over 542,000 cubic feet of timber and a recycled-metal facade. Its curved overall shape could be understood as two intertwined, zig-zagging strips that paved the site, creating a series of courtyards and roof spaces where building occupants could never be more than 50 meters (164 feet) away from a green terrace, according to architects BIG.
The building, set for completion in February, primarily offered office space, alongside shops and a hotel. Ground-level courtyards would be accessible to the public, including plane enthusiasts seeking views of the adjacent Luxembourg Airport.
Danjiang Bridge, Taipei
For nearly nine years, this late Zaha Hadid's firm continued her legacy, producing multiple designs that embodied the iconic architect's ethos and flair for curvature. However, the Danjiang Bridge in Taiwan, unveiled in 2015, would be one of the last projects to be realized under Hadid's direct supervision.
The 3,018-foot-long construction links four significant highways at the Tamsui River's entrance, running through Taipei, Taiwan's capital. The design boasts an astonishingly slender silhouette, resting solely on a solitary concrete pillar (as per the firm's project overview, this minimizes the bridge's visual interference in its surroundings). Nevertheless, upon its launch this year, it will claim the title of the world's longest single-mast asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge.
The architect's distinctive style is showcased even with a solitary pillar at play, evident in the rounded corners and subtly curved architecture - characteristics that can only be attributed to Zaha Hadid.
The New Sydney Harbour Fish Market, designed by 3XN Architects and Australian firm BVN, aims to strike a balance between tourist amenities and operational realities of a wholesale market, featuring retail stores, restaurants, and an urban park.
In Osaka, Japan, for Expo 2025, the Osaka Grand Ring will be a continuous circular wooden structure over a mile in circumference, traversing the entire site, designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, using local cedar and cypress wood and Scottish pine, with traditional Japanese wooden joints.
