The most anticipated buildings of 2021

In a year of set-backs thanks to Covid-19’s disruption of the supply chain, workforce and just about everything else, the openings of many of the most hotly anticipated buildings of 2020 were scuppered. Expo 2020 Dubai has become Expo 2021 Dubai, Tokyo Olympics 2020 has become Tokyo Olympics 2021 in a pattern that hasn’t failed to affect every area of the world. With optimism, we present 13 architectural projects, from historical restorations to new art galleries and museums, gardens and city plans, that are tentatively opening their doors to the public in 2021.

Franco Stella has recreated three of the ornate Baroque facades of the demolished Berlin Palace and added a fourth of his own design to create Humboldt Forum. The new-comer to Berlin’s Museum Island will in part house the collections of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art. It had a virtual opening this month, but the building won’t open to footfall until restrictions ease in 2021.

550 Madison canopy and garden by Snøhetta

The backlash against Snøhetta’s redevelopment of the postmodern AT&T Building on New York’s Madison Avenue – which proposed replacing a substantial chunk of its iconic masonary with glass – was so strong the practice was forced to abandon its plans. The revised scheme, more sympathetic to the original design of Philip Johnson and John Burgee, includes an a new partially covered garden which will open in 2021.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ undulating campus for Bee’ah, the Sharjah-based environmental and waste management company, takes its cues from the surrounding desert dunes. Designed to minimise energy consumption, the building has features including light reflective cladding, solar panels and recycled materials. It is expected to open in spring 2021.