A stunning rock formation in Malta known as the Azure Window drew visitors from around the world until its collapse in a storm in early 2017, but it could be reborn in an unexpected way. In collaboration with Elena Britanishskaya, architect Svetozar Andreev proposes transforming the site of the fallen landmark into a new exhibition space, mimicking the size and shape of the original using mirrored steel faces. The project, entitled ‘Heart of Malta,’ aims to retain the location as a primary tourist draw and use it as an opportunity to educate visitors on the history of the island nation in the central Mediterranean Sea.

Standing nearly 92 feet tall (28 meters), the abstracted form of the new structure offers more than 53,000 square feet (5,000 square meters) of space spread over five spiraling floors. Each spiral step represents 1,000 years of Maltese history, and the exhibition hall itself showcases everything from traditional shipbuilding methods and materials to cutting-edge modern architectural techniques.

Just like the arch, the building stretches out from the land, connected by a narrow bridge. The top remains a prime overlook to gaze out onto the beautiful seaside landscape of Dwejra, and visitors descend into the exhibition spaces via ramp. An online poll in MaltaToday found that 68 percent of readers were in favor of making the proposal a reality, says Andreev.

“It will be a perfect monument and symbol of the fusion of modernity and nature, of time and history, and a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit.”

Unlike most of New York City’s standout architecture, this sculptural, almost alien-looking structure set to rise above the new Hudson Yards development will be open for the public to explore. Architect Thomas Heatherwick envisions this centerpiece as a way to take all of the visitors to the square and “sort of sprinkle them into the air,” encouraging them to interact with each other and with their surroundings in a new way.

Influenced by images of Indian stepwells, which use hundreds of flights of stairs to descend beneath ground level, this observation deck uses flights of stairs almost like building blocks to reach into the sky.

The ‘Vessel’ design is made up of 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, with nearly 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings, and if you want to walk the whole thing, you’ll travel an entire mile while remaining in the air above Hudson Yards. It’s 50 feet in diameter at the feet, blooming into 150 feet at the top, and gleams appealingly in polished copper.

The square at Hudson Yards is a collaboration between Heatherwick Studio and landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz, set to feature 5 acres of trees, perennial gardens, pathways, seating and a 200-foot-long fountain mimicking a flowing river.

The square will be surrounded by a whopping 16 brand new skyscrapers containing nearly 13 millions square feet of office, residential and retail space. The largest development in New York City since Rockefeller center was built in 1939, it’s currently under construction, and estimated to be fully completed by 2023.

“We put ourselves under this vast pressure because we felt, intuitively, that it should be something that you haven’t experience already before,” says Heatherwick. “It has no commercial job to do. It’s not based on electronics. It’s not based on advertising. it’s extremely interactive but it’s properly using your physicality. There’s something that is timeless about humans and our physicality. The project, in a way, is a big invitation. It’s just there to hopefully mean things to different people, to not tell you how you’re supposed to think. It’s like a platform for life.”

After a few years of recession-induced stalling, record-smashing skyscrapers are going up around the world at a steady pace, knocking each other out of the top positions every year or so. While Dubai’s Burj Khalifa has held strong as the world’s tallest building, a number of new super-tall structures have sprouted up in the last two years to claim titles as the tallest in various cities and hemispheres, and a few proposals that are almost too tall to be believed aim to surpass the Burj by 2020.

432 Park Avenue, New York City

The tallest residential building in the world stands at 432 Park Avenue, topping out at 1,396 feet of exclusive condominium apartments. Completed in December 2015, the building is the third-tallest building in the United States and the second tallest building in New York City, behind One World Trade Center and ahead of the Empire State Building. It’s expected to be equaled in height by the 111 West 57th Street project in mid-2018. The video above documents the construction of the tower over the course of the entire building process.

MahaNakhon Skyscraper by Ole Scheeren, Thailand

Pixelating in two sections along the way to its 1,030-foot-high pinnacle, the MahaNakhon tower by Ole Scheeren is a striking new addition to Bangkok’s skyline. Located in the city’s central business district, the tower is Thailand’s tallest building and contains a public landscape plaza, retail center, 200 serviced apartments and a 150-room boutique hotel.

The Tower in Dubai by Santiago Calatrava

Famed architect Santiago Calatrava announced this year that he has been chosen to design and build the world’s tallest building, set to surpass the Burj Khalifa. Planned for Dubai Creek Harbor, ‘The Tower’ is a landmark observation structure offering panoramic views across the city from ‘The Pinnacle Room’ and observation garden decks attempting to recreate the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The tower will also contain a luxury boutique hotel, and is expected to be completed in advance of Dubai’s turn hosting the Expo 2020.

Grand Tower, Germany’s Tallest Residential Skyscraper

Germany’s tallest residential skyscraper is set to send 400 floors of high-end residences straight up into the sky of Frankfurt, creating a new urban landmark. The height of the tower will far surpass that of Germany’s provost tallest residential structure, the Colonia-Haus in Cologne. The penthouses at the top will enjoy wraparound glass-walled balconies gazing out onto the city.

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Recent Record Breakers 12 Legitimately Sky Scraping Tower Projects

Cultural landmarks and civic assets, well-designed museums can put unknown towns on the map, revitalize entire urban areas, ignite discussion about architecture and draw in tourists from around the world. From iconic and instantly recognizable contemporary structures like the Guggenheim Bilbao to subtle modern renovations and promising projects that have not yet been built, these 12 stunning museums and galleries designed by some of the world’s top architects stand out for their eye-catching visuals, respect for the landscape and history of their settings and sheer brilliance.

Centre Pompidou-Metz by Shigeru Ban & Jean de Castines

(images via: inhabitat)

Architects Jean de Castines and Shigeru Ban teamed up for this stunning expansion of the Centre Pompidou modern art museum in Paris. With an unusual form inspired by Chinese hats and bridges, the Centre Pomidou-Metz features a curving roof made of criss-crossing glue-laminated timber mesh covered in a waterproof fiberglass and Teflon membrane to preserve the works of art inside under the best possible conditions. At night the new facility glows like a lantern, beckoning visitors inside to view the works of modern visionaries like Vassili Kandinsky and Francis Bacon.

Denver Art Museum Frederic C. Hamilton Building by Daniel Libeskind

(images via: arcspace)

One controversial museum design is the Frederic C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum, envisioned as an echo of the “craggy cliffs” of the nearby Rocky Mountains by architect Daniel Libeskind. Sharp geometric shapes clad in titanium jut out from the earth in this 2006 expansion, which doubled the size of the museum. But even more so than the dramatic exterior, it’s the unusual interior that drew both criticism and confusion; the gallery’s angled asymmetrical walls hardly seemed fit for art installations. However, artists have met the challenge head-on with adaptive approaches that exploit the interior architecture’s transcendence of typical gallery archetypes.

Glaciarium, Glacier National Park, Argentina

(images via: glaciarium.com)

The new iceberg-shaped ‘Glaciarium‘ in Argentina’s Glacier National Park aims to highlight the importance of the region’s glaciers, acting both as a museum that educates visitors on the role that glaciers play in the environment and as a research institute that will monitor the 47 glaciers in the park. Despite the weight of the landscape features that inspired it, the museum sits lightly upon the earth, built on a steel frame that rests upon the natural level of the soil.

Groninger Museum, Groningen, Holland

(images via: akbar simonse + panaramio)

Continuing the trend of modern museums and galleries that are not just housings for art, but works of art themselves, the Groninger Museum in Holland is an eye-catching collaboration between Alessandro Mendini, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Michele de Lucchi and Phillipe Starck. From certain angles, the Groninger resembles a massive geometric ship perched on the edge of the canal, an aesthetic that reinforces Holland’s watery landscape even as it clashes with the traditional architecture of the region. Deliberately provocative, the design of the Groninger Museum was not immediately popular with locals, but it has become an icon of the city since its completion in 1994.

Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany

(images via: dezeen)

Originally completed in 1849, the Neues Museum of Berlin was nearly destroyed by bombs in World War II and sat abandoned for decades before restoration as a cultural landmark. The renovation of the museum, orchestrated by David Chipperfield Architects, did not erase the wounds but rather preserved them to stand as visible testimony to the museum’s history, and that of Berlin. The architect set out to contrast the museum’s original refinement with the crumbling brick and bullet holes that resulted from the war, and added subtle modern elements that provide visual continuity without taking away from the narrative of the structure. The renovation won the 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award.

City of Arts and Sciences by Santiago Calatrava

(images via: architecture revived)

Renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has brought his fluid, soaring design aesthetic to cities around the world, but perhaps none mean so much to him as this sprawling museum in his own hometown of Valencia. Like most of Calatrava’s creations, the City of Arts and Sciences is skeletal and organic but almost alien-looking in its starkness. ‘City’ is an apt description for this complex, which includes an opera house, planetarium, science museum, palace of arts and underwater entertainment including theaters and restaurants. Occupying a dry riverbed in what was once an underdeveloped area of town, the City of Arts and Sciences is now Valencia’s top tourist destination, linking the city center to the sea.

Imperial War Museum North by Daniel Libeskind

(images via: daniel-libeskind.com)

Located on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, Daniel Libeskind’s Imperial War Museum in Manchester, England is based on the globe, “broken into three fragments to depict the shattering effect of war on the history of the world.” Referred to as ‘shards’, the three fragments are situated to signify conflicts that took place on land, water and in the air. The Air Shard takes you 180 feet into the sky in the open air, looking down through a steel mesh floor, while the Water Shard overlooks the canal. The gallery floors in the Earth Shard are curved to replicate the curvature of the earth.

The Sage Gateshead Music & Art Gallery by Foster + Partners

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Transforming what was once referred to as a “post-industrial wasteland”, The Sage Gateshead by Foster + Partners cuts a dramatic, glittering silhouette on the River Tyne in Gateshead, England. The curved glass and steel building contains a 1,700-seat concert hall, a 400-seat space for chamber music and a rehearsal room that doubles as a small concert hall and orchestral recording studio. The Sage is also a center for music education, offering classes to the public. No detail was spared in the 10-year planning process, which involved musicians and resulted in such features as ‘spongy’ concrete to increase acoustics.

Milwaukee Art Museum by Santiago Calatrava

(images via: calatrava.info)

Soaring like the skeleton of a great mythical bird over Lake Michigan, the Burke Brise Soleil is Santiago Calatrava’s contribution to the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin. Bearing the architect’s signature style, the addition is a movable, wing-like sunscreen perched above the concrete Quadracci Pavilion, with a wingspan comparable to a Boeing 747-400. It opens and closes throughout the day, controlling both light and temperature inside the museum and automatically closing when its ultrasonic wind sensors detect winds stronger than 23 miles per hour. The museum is home to over 25,000 works of art.

New Museum for Contemporary Art by SANAA

(images via: dezeen)

Tall, staggered and white, resembling nothing so much as a precarious tower of baker’s boxes, the New Museum for Contemporary Art – often referred to as New Museum on the Bowery – offers, as New York Magazine put it, “a magically unsentimental intrusion, an antidote to the generic luxury springing up around it.” Designed by Tokyo architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, the nine-level structure is the first fine art museum ever constructed from the ground up in downtown Manhattan. Opening in December 2007, the New Museum is a pristine contrast to the grittiness of the Bowery’s reputation (which is changing today, as gentrification sets in). Clad in a seamless aluminum mesh, the structure is airy and spacious with lots of natural light yet few distractions from the world outside.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Perhaps no art museum in the world is quite as iconic as the Guggenheim Bilbao, which single-handedly put a relatively unknown small Spanish city on the map and stands out as a prime example of bold contemporary architecture. With a design that is both fluid and geometric, the light-catching, ship-like structure by famed architect Frank Gehry bears reflective panels resembling fish scales, reflecting the port town which serves as its setting and the river Nervión upon which it sits.

National Museum of Qatar by Jean Nouvel

(images via: jean nouvel)

Inspired by desert architecture, the new National Museum of Qatar by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel is made up of a series of interlocking discs which will create pockets of sheltered areas providing refuge from the harsh sun. The 430,000-square-foot cultural center, which will also include cafes, shops, offices and research centers, will be built around the historic Fariq Al Salatah Palace. From above, the complex resembles a caravanserai, a roadside inn providing refuge for desert travelers.