Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2020. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Guides
    • Flight Deals
    • Travel Deals
    • Ways to Save
    • Hotels + Resorts
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Disney Vacations
    • Festivals + Events
    • Airlines + Airports
    • Buses + Trains
    • Ground Transportation
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Attractions
  3. Landmarks + Monuments
  4. World's Top New Landmarks

World's Top New Landmarks

By Briana Fasone
February 07, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: © STRINGER/ITALY/Reuters/Corbis
What do the Grand Canyon Skywalk, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper, and Mexico City’s Museo Soumaya have in common? All opened in the last five years and surged to the top of T+L’s first landmarks survey—proving that some structures are instant classics.

T+L readers participated by ranking 60 landmarks, among them skyscrapers, sports venues, museums, and parks (see our complete methodology). The resulting list of top-ranked venues, all opened within the last 15 years, is your cheat sheet to the latest generation of groundbreaking architecture—the kinds of landmarks that inspire you to travel and see them in person.  

Related: America's Most Beautiful Landmarks

Not surprisingly, many winners come from the art world. “Architecture is another layer of the museum experience,” notes Jim Childress, a member of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Design. It’s about building something that celebrates a local neighborhood or community, he says.

Case in point: Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (No. 14), which is revitalizing the waterfront area with its steel-and-glass design and modern art collection. Other examples include San Francisco’s copper-clad De Young Museum (No. 18), designed by Herzog and de Meuron, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (No. 11), which will display Lucian Freud’s paintings in a highly anticipated Summer 2012 exhibition. 

Acrophobes, hold on tight! Besides the 2,717-foot Burj and New York’s towering 8 Spruce Street, five other soaring structures appear on our list. Can you guess No. 13, which, at 1,132 feet, is the world’s highest bridge? (Hint: it’s even taller than the Eiffel Tower, yet located in the same country).

Any skeptics of the sky-high should reserve judgment. “A lot of tall buildings that we hold dear—such as the Empire State Building—were ridiculed when they were built,” says Bill Worthen, AIA’s director and resource architect for sustainability. “However, these buildings crept into our hearts, and now we try to even emulate them.”

So which landmark captured enough readers’ hearts to take the No. 1 ranking? New York’s September 11 Memorial, which has received more than 1.2 million visitors from over 120 different countries since opening in 2011. Read on for what makes the memorial site unique, and check out the rest of the world’s most awe-inspiring new sites.
Start Slideshow

1 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 1 National September 11 Memorial, New York City

Credit: Joe Woolhead

Opened in September 2011, the two illuminated reflecting pools—occupying the footprint of the Twin Towers—and 400 white oaks create a calming, respectful space to commemorate 9/11.

1 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 2 8 Spruce Street, New York City

Credit: iStock

Frank Gehry designed the Western world’s tallest residential tower (it soars 870 feet), and gave it an undulating frame to catch and reflect the sun as it changes throughout the day.

2 of 20

3 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 3 National Stadium, Beijing

Credit: iStock

The world’s largest steel structure—designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron and known affectionately as the Bird’s Nest—premiered at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

3 of 20

Advertisement

4 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 4 Grand Canyon Skywalk, AZ

Credit: National Geographic Image Collection / Alamy

Twelve-and-a-half inches of reinforced glass is all that separates the brave souls who walk this four-year-old horseshoe plank from a 4,000-foot plunge into the Colorado River below.

4 of 20

5 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 5 Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

Credit: iStock

Home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2003, Frank Gehry’s impeccably executed performance space is said to have some of the world’s best acoustics.

5 of 20

6 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 6 Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Credit: iStock

At 2,717 feet, the world’s tallest building has commanded the Dubai skyline since January 2010. It contains residences, offices, and the Armani Hotel.

6 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 7 Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden

Credit: John Liu

Santiago Calatrava’s 2005 twisting steel structure—consisting of nine cubes that rotate 90 degrees as they rise from bottom to top—is the second highest residential building in Europe.

7 of 20

8 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 8 Henderson Waves Pedestrian Bridge, Singapore

Credit: ABDUL RAHMAN LATIFF

This undulating walkway of yellow bakau wood soars 118 feet above Singapore’s Henderson Road, connecting Mount Faber to Telok Blangah Hill.

8 of 20

9 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 9 Museo Soumaya, Mexico City

Credit: Benedicte Desrus / Alamy

Fernando Romero’s amorphous, aluminum-clad modern art museum, opened in 2011, rises like a glistening 64,583-square-foot sculpture out of Mexico City’s Polanco district.

9 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 10 Millennium Park, Chicago

Credit: iStock

The standout features of Chicago’s 24.7-acre Millennium Park include Anish Kapoor’s jellybean-like Cloud Gate sculpture, Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and various outdoor art exhibitions.

10 of 20

11 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 11 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX

Credit: David Woo

Tadao Ando’s minimalist structure, opened in 2002, features five pavilions of 40-foot glass walls framed in simple steel and surrounding a 1.5-acre reflective pond.

11 of 20

12 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 12 Sands SkyPark at Marina Bay, Singapore

Credit: iStock

This three-acre Moshe Safdie–designed garden “floats” 57 stories off the ground and has a pool, two restaurants, and 360-degree views over the city.

12 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 13 Millau Viaduct, Millau, France

Credit: 1Apix / Alamy

Spanning 1.6 miles and reaching a height of 1,132 feet, the viaduct was opened in 2004 along France’s Tarn River Gorge and is the world’s highest bridge—just taller than the Eiffel Tower.

13 of 20

14 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 14 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

Credit: Peter Vanderwarker

When it opened in 2006 overlooking Boston Harbor, this 65,000-square-foot gallery of transparent glass, translucent glass, and cool opaque steel by Diller Scofidio + Renfro was the city’s first new museum in 100 years.

14 of 20

15 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 15 Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago

Credit: iStock

Renzo Piano’s limestone, glass, and steel 2009 addition to Chicago’s Beaux-Arts landmark was built to house the museum’s modern European artworks.

15 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 16 National Aquatic Center, Beijing

Credit: iStock

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, 25 world records were broken at this seven-acre, $1.6 billion glowing plastic cube, whose walls and roof contain more than 3,000 oversize air bubbles.

16 of 20

17 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 17 The High Line, New York City

Credit: © Ambient Images Inc. / Alamy

Flower beds, day loungers, even a bar occupy this once-abandoned elevated rail bed—reconceived by Diller Scofidio + Renfro—that now threads through buildings from the Meatpacking District to West 30th Street.

17 of 20

18 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 18 De Young Museum, San Francisco

Credit: © Art on File/Corbis

Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron sculpted 950,000 pounds of natural copper into a form that complements the landscape of Golden Gate Park. The fine arts museum opened in 2005.

18 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 19 Wembley Stadium, London

Credit: Nigel Sawtell / Alamy

After a massive $1.3 billion reconstruction, England’s national arena with its distinctive arch reopened in 2007 as the second largest sports structure in Europe.

19 of 20

20 of 20

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 20 Ponte della Costituzione, Venice

Credit: © STRINGER/ITALY/Reuters/Corbis

Decidedly modern, Santiago Calatrava’s glass-and-marble footbridge over the Grand Canal ruffled the feathers of Venice’s hard-core traditionalists when it opened in 2008.

20 of 20

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Briana Fasone

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 20 No. 1 National September 11 Memorial, New York City
2 of 20 No. 2 8 Spruce Street, New York City
3 of 20 No. 3 National Stadium, Beijing
4 of 20 No. 4 Grand Canyon Skywalk, AZ
5 of 20 No. 5 Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
6 of 20 No. 6 Burj Khalifa, Dubai
7 of 20 No. 7 Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden
8 of 20 No. 8 Henderson Waves Pedestrian Bridge, Singapore
9 of 20 No. 9 Museo Soumaya, Mexico City
10 of 20 No. 10 Millennium Park, Chicago
11 of 20 No. 11 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX
12 of 20 No. 12 Sands SkyPark at Marina Bay, Singapore
13 of 20 No. 13 Millau Viaduct, Millau, France
14 of 20 No. 14 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
15 of 20 No. 15 Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago
16 of 20 No. 16 National Aquatic Center, Beijing
17 of 20 No. 17 The High Line, New York City
18 of 20 No. 18 De Young Museum, San Francisco
19 of 20 No. 19 Wembley Stadium, London
20 of 20 No. 20 Ponte della Costituzione, Venice

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

World's Top New Landmarks
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.