See the world’s best new architecture | CNN (2024)

Located in Ras, in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, this school by Sanjay Puri Architects was designed to combat the region's hot climate. Built around a central courtyard, the design offers naturally ventilated corridors and shady pathways, while the angled walls deflect sunlight to reduce heat gain. Scroll through the gallery to see more finalists in this year's World Architecture Festival Awards.

In 2018, architecture firms BAU and GAA were selected to design Australia's first purpose-built LGBTQI+ center for the not-for-profit organization Victorian Pride Centre. The building's interiors combine concrete and exposed structural elements with timber, ceramics and fabrics to promote what the architects called "aesthetics of inclusion".

The MPavilion program sees different architects invited to design a temporary structure at the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne. Last year's commission, by Italian firm MAP studio, was envisioned as an "urban lighthouse", with sunlight reflected around the geometric structure by angular mirrored panels.

Bangkok-based firm Architects 49 Limited was shortlist for the Sasipawan Wisdom Center, a meditation center in Khao Yai, Thailand. The serene complex features a pagoda constructed from layers of glass sheets, as well as accommodation for monks and teachers at the retreat.

This futuristic, solar-powered structure in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, will serve as a new home for the sustainability organization BEEAH Group. Plans for the building were first unveiled by the late architect Zaha Hadid in 2014, prior to her death, though the curvilinear design was only realized this year.

German firm Tchoban Voss Architekten says it was able to slash carbon emissions by combining wood and concrete in its design for EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin. The larger of the project's two buildings is now among Europe's largest freestanding "hybrid-timber" structures.

Design firm Antao was nominated in a landscape category for this children's activity park in China's Yunnan province. Situated next to a science museum, it offers play areas and interactive installations.

This bowl-shaped structure in the Dutch city of Rotterdam serves as a storage facility for the neighboring Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. But it is also open to the public, with architecture firm MVRDV describing its design as the "world's first publicly accessible art depot."

Designed by Fender Katsalidis, this 48-floor building in downtown Melbourne, Australia, features a three-story "urban forest". Dubbed Paragon, the residential tower's diagonal grid surface was inspired by Celtic culture -- a nod to the historic Celtic Club that previously occupied the site.

Designed by architecture firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos, the low-rise Valle San Nicolás clubhouse was intended to integrate with the surrounding landscape. The circular structure was built on a lake on the outskirts of Valle de Bravo, Mexico, with stone walls and wooden frames adding to its organic character.

Mohammed bin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Majid mosque by Alsoliman Real Estate Co. is set across an area of 3,650 square meters (over 39,000 square feet) in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

Designed by LUO Studio, this timber footbridge stretches across a waterway in Jiangmen, in China's Guangdong province. The arched shape allows fishing boats to pass beneath, while the bridge's covered internal corridor offers protection from the sun and rain.

One of the more high-profile entries on this year's shortlist, the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, is home to two NFL teams: the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams. Designed by US firm HKS, the sleek stadium is covered by a free-standing translucent canopy that allows breeze to flow through to the covered 70,000 seat arena.

Shortlisted in one of WAF's residential categories, this villa on the island of Paros, Greece, overlooks the Aegean Sea. Architecture firm Studio Seilern's design features stone walls rendered with traditional white stucco and marble window frames inspired by the island's churches.

The Shuikou Mountain Workers Movement Memorial Museum honors the history of laborers and peasant workers in a mining area outside Hengyang, in China's Hunan province. Yang Ying Design Studio embedded its 4,000 square meter (43,000 square foot) building into hilly ground, giving it the appearance of being partially submerged by the landscape.

Chinese firm Turenscape's "Wastewater Cleansing Terraces" were designed to demonstrate an ecologically-friendly way to clean and recycle wastewater. It was built in Handan, Hebei province -- an area suffering from water shortages and the effects of pollution.