![]() ![]() “These connections coalesce the two towers into a singular cube with the void at its center.” To do this, the firm detailed the “void’s surface with a combination of glass with varying thickness, bent in different ways and fitted by using several different techniques,” Passas explains. ![]() “We designed the Opus as two separate towers that are connected at their base and top where many of the guest amenities and services are located,” says Christos Passas, ZHA’s director on the project. While the design seems like something we’d likely see on another planet, ZHA’s method in creating such a striking structure is rather logical. The structure miraculously has a gaping hole in the middle of it, continuing the firm's lengthy tradition of designing objects that seem to perform a dance with the same trio: gravity, space, and voids. But you can excuse those of us who will quickly forget what’s inside of the building when we simply look at what’s outside. The Opus, as the building is being called, will house a hotel, 12 restaurants, a rooftop bar, and 56,000 square feet of office space. The firm that still bears her name, Zaha Hadid Architects, (ZHA), will soon complete a building that will surely stand out in a city chock-full of head-turning architecture. And perhaps no architect has explored the potential curve of an angle more than the late Zaha Hadid. Over the past two decades, Dubai has become a virtual playground for architects who want to put their wildest dreams to the test. We believe these 11 buildings will meet that high bar. Oftentimes, we can’t imagine the necessity of architecture until the project is completed and the landscape is altered for the better. So, in 2020 and beyond, we at Architectural Digest urge you to go out and experience these spectacular structures that will be completed this year. It’s through the craning of one's neck to take in the magnificence of a skyscraper such as New York’s Central Park Tower or the almost indescribable individuality of Zaha Hadid Architects’ tower that features a gaping hole in its center or the striking beauty that can be produced when modern and ancient architecture, as with MAD Architects' kindergarten in China, are juxtaposed next to each other. Ultimately, however, architecture is a medium meant to be experienced not through two-dimensional writing, but in everyday life. Echoing Winston Churchill's philosophy when he stated, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us,” these are the trends that will carry us through the 21st century, leading our society into a more just future. Today, while we are still searching for the sky’s upper limits with our buildings, new focus has narrowed on designing eco-friendly structures, and more affordable housing in major urban enclaves. A century ago, this meant building shockingly tall skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building. Yet architecture is nothing if not a forward-thinking enterprise. And then, of course, Notre-Dame Cathedral was within minutes of completely burning a millennium of history to the ground. Argentine starchitect César Pelli, a decade younger than Pei, passed away two months later. Looking back at the year that was, 2019 had several difficult, if not defining, moments in the world of architecture. ![]()
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