12 from 2016

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC, was dedicated on 24 September 2016. The building design is the product of a collaboration of four design firms that formed Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupJJR: The Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates, Davis Brody Bond and SmithGroupJJR.

Santiago Calatrava's controversial, $4 billion transit hub at the World Trade Center site quietly opened to the public in March. Nine months later, the retail spaces overlooking the grand "Oculus" are nearly full (just in time for holiday shopping), making it a bustling addition to Lower Manhattan.

Christ & Gantenbein's addition to the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, was done in early 2016 – when Swiss-Architects editor Jenny Keller got a peek inside – but the gallery spaces did not open to the public until August.

Christ & Gantenbein's second high-profile commission of 2016, the extension to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, opened in April. In June we took a close look at the "Light Frieze" that wraps the brick building's exterior.

Coop Himmelb(l)au's Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) in Shenzhen, China, opened to the public in the fall. Visit Coop Himmelb(l)au's profile to learn more about MOCAPE.

According to the MIS website, Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is currently in its the third stage of construction, "which includes the frames, finishes and installations." Inauguration is expected to take place in 2017.

Although Herzog & de Meuron's long awaited Elbphilharmonie Hamburg won't open fully until January 2017, Elbphilharmonie Plaza – a public viewing platform between the brick base and glass addition above it – opened in November.

Herzog & de Meuron's addition to its own Tate Modern in London opened to the public in June. Watch the construction of the sculptural brick addition known as the Switch House here.

Construction of Kengo Kuma's Under One Roof project for the EPFL Art Lab in Lausanne, Switzerland, wrapped up in November. Visit Kengo Kuma's website to see more of the building.

Jean Nouvel's much anticipated UAE outpost for the Louvre, which features a lattice dome above rectilinear volumes, has been delayed and will be inaugurated in 2017 per the museum's website.

Faena Forum is one building in the three-part Faena District in Miami Beach designed by OMA - Office for Metropolitan Architecture for developer Alan Faena; the development also includes a hotel by Norman Foster. Faena Forum opened with a week of festivities in late November.

Snøhetta's expansion to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) opened to the public in May. We featured the project as a Building of the Week on American-Architects.