With 338 buildings in the running, we combed through the contenders and made our own shortlist. From a ribbon-inspired wedding chapel in Hiroshima to Zaha Hadid's £240 million London Aquatics Centre, these are the 27 buildings that really jumped out and caught our eye.
Scrolling through these hotels, schools, office buildings, and more, you'll see plenty of dramatic slopes, sharp corners, and swooping curves. Oh, and glass. Lots and lots of glass.
Cardedeu by EMC Arquitectura (Lago de Coatepeque, El Salvador)
From the religious building category.
Ribbon Chapel by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Co. Ltd. (Hiroshima, Japan)
From the religious building category.
Thermal Spa Hotel by Gad Architecture (Eskisehir, Turkey)
From the hotel and leisure building category.
Youth Hotel in iD Town by O Office Architects (Shenzhen, China)
World Architecture Festival
From the hotel and leisure building category.
Sino Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu by The Oval Partnership (Chengdu, China)
From the shopping building category.
Hiroshi Senjyu Musem Karuizawa Cafe & Shop by Hideo Yasui + A.I.T. (Karuizawa, Japan)
From the shopping building category.
Riverside 66 by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (Tianjin, China)
From the shopping building category.
The GPT Group's Wollongong Central by HDR Rice Daubney (Wollongong, Australia)
From the shopping building category.
Fulton Center by Grimshaw Architects (New York, NY)
From the transport building category.
Shanghai Natural History Museum by Perkins + Will (Shanghai, China)
From the culture buildings category.
Nazrul Tirtha by Abin Design Studio (West Bengal, India)
From the culture buildings category.
Steyn City Clubhouse by Boogertman + Partners Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa)
From the sports building category.
Margaret Court Arena by NH Architecture (Melbourne, Australia)
From the sports building category.
London Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects (London, UK)
From the sports building category.
Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium by Pattern Design (Al Ain, United Arab Emirates)
From the sports building category.
Shunde Primary School by K2LD Architects Pte Ltd. (Guangdong, China)
From the schools building category.
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar Middle Girls School by McBride Charles Ryan (Melbourne, Australia)
From the schools building category.
Aselsan Rehis Golbasi Campus by Yazgan Design Architecture Co. Ltd. (Ankara, Turkey)
From the production, energy, and recycling building category.
100PP by Ministry of Design Pte Ltd. (Singapore)
From the office building category.
5 Broadgate by Make Architects (London, UK)
From the office building category
King Fahad National Library by Gerber Architekten (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
From the new and old building category.
Viking by Crown by MHN Design Union Pty Ltd. (Sydney, Australia)
From the mixed use category.
THE INTERLACE by Buro Ole Scheeren (Singapore)
From the housing building category.
Maggie's Centre by Wilkinson Eyre Architects (Oxford, UK)
From the health building category.
The University of Queensland Oral Health Centre by Cox Rayner Architects (Brisbane, Queensland)
From the health building category.
Zhonghe Community Sports Center by Q-Lab (New Taipei City, Taiwan)
From the civic and community building category.
Halifax Central Library by Schmidt Hammer Lassen (Nova Scotia, Canada)
From the civic and community building category.
