Top 11 Commercial Projects of 2024

Architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners

Location: Warsaw, Poland

Type: Cultural

Project Year: 2014-2024

Project Overview and Details: A new artistic center will be established in Warsaw, Poland, thanks to the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw and the TR Warszawa Theatre. The two new cultural institutions will give the city’s historic legacy a contemporary feel. The new center for the arts will be located on a 22-acre plot and was created by the New York-based design firm Thomas Phifer and Partners.

This building as one of the commercial projects is situated in Defilad Square at the base of the Palace of Culture and Science, bounded to the east by Marszalkoska Street and to the north by a renovated Park Witokrzyski.

The structures are straightforward monochromatic volumes with a single material for their façades, sharing comparable features. Each building is an independent institution with its unique personality, although it shares some traits. A “communicating space for collaborative activities” is created by the forum, a shared outdoor area between the two buildings.

Impact and Significance: The renderings of Phifer’s design are a bit vague in terms of details, but they clearly illustrate his concept for the project: “a building that reveals all it has.” According to the statement, “their architecture should reflect this principle and reveal to the passers-by, the thousands of random pedestrians, what is happening inside.” In the case of the theatre, one of the stages will open to Plan defiled, such that performances can be watched from both inside and outside simultaneously.

Glass walls facing the covered plaza will allow the two institutions to look at each other across the space in these commercial projects, a space that the city and the institutions hope will be full of people and activity once the project is complete.

Architecture: To promote the free exchange of ideas, conversation, and dialogue, accommodating both current and future programming, the Museum of Warsaw, as one of the commercial projects requested a wide variety of gallery and social interaction spaces to accommodate an engaged audience and its growing collection of contemporary art.

The open public space, which is located on the ground floor, provides a variety of activities, including classrooms for learning, a lobby, an auditorium, reaction galleries, a café, and a bookstore. On the other side, the museum galleries are located on the two top floors.

Over 900 people can be seated at the Warszawa Theatre, which has four stages. Additionally, it has two substantial rehearsal spaces, administrative offices, a costume and set store, a restaurant, and a cafe. “The heart of the theatre” is reflected in the interior setting.

Each performance room has windows to the outside because “the Theatre wishes to project an image of openness that invites public participation.” Additionally, “the hangar,” the main performance space, is a multidirectional area that allows for various combinations of the audience and stage.

7. Aranya ‘Cloud Center’

Architects: MAD

Location: Qinhuangdao, China

Type: Cultural 

Project Year: Under construction

Project Overview and Details: The Aranya Gold Coast in China as one of its commercial projects will soon have a multipurpose cultural center that was inspired by space and the clouds, according to the architecture firm MAD. The cloud center was built for the Aranya arts and culture community and will be situated in Qinhuangdao, close to the Beidaihe shoreline in northeastern China. The hub was created to look like a “floating cloud by the sea,” according to the design company.

The 3,853 square meter area has two buildings holding a theatre, conference room, exhibition spaces, and a cafe. The site is surrounded by a landscaped landscape that mimics the wavy shape of the center. The Cloud Centre, the sculpture gardens, and the auxiliary cafe space will all be enclosed by a series of tapering walls that gradually rise in height around the property in these commercial projects.

Architecture: The engineers used several structural overhangs buried inside the envelope as an internal space frame, taking their cue from the shape and lightness of clouds. The main steel structure, which is about 30 meters long, has the primary and secondary trusses suspended to it, which are joined by welding.

As a result, the gallery has essentially no columns, allowing it to serve a variety of purposes while hiding its structural support system. Floor-to-ceiling glass on the ground floor beneath it, where the grand hall takes up the majority of the building’s footprint, furthers the ‘floating’ image.

A curtain wall made of white laminated glass panels that have been tempered and laser-printed to reflect the sun, the sky, and the surrounding evergreen landscape serves as the main volume cladding. A small amount of double-curved glass is buried within the envelope within the estimated construction cost thanks to the structured curtain wall system and the intricate curvilinear geometry in these commercial projects.

As one of the remarkable commercial projects, the engineering team created a strong waterproof and thermal insulating layer beneath the clad to safeguard the curtain wall against sea wind erosion. To keep water from pooling on the building’s envelope, several drainage slots between the façade panels gather water.

The Cloud Centre is intended to have a distinctive architecture that serves as both a hallmark of the nearly three million-person metropolis of Qinhuangdao and a component of a larger commercial setting.

The Cloud will be a serene haven in contrast to the hectic city life outside its boundaries. Visitors will encounter a sizable pond that reflects the underside of the white building, a garden, and nearby woodlands as they make their way from the winding road to the Cloud Center’s main entrance. The entire commercial area creates the tranquil dreamscape Ma Yansong, architect and founder of MAD Architects, had in mind for these commercial projects.

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8. The Pyramid of Tirana

Architects: MVRDV

Location: Tirana, Albania

Type: Educational Facility

Project Year: 2021

Project Overview and Details: As of February 4th, 2021, work has started on one of the MVRDV commercial projects for the Pyramid of Tirana in Albania. The proposal restores what was once a socialist landmark and turns the brutalist building into a brand-new center for Tirana’s cultural life. The intervention will leave the concrete shell intact while opening the atrium and its environs and transforming the area into a tiny village with cafes, studios, workshops, and classrooms.

The 11,835 sqm Pyramid and the adjacent plaza will be put back to use by MVRDV in one of the most exciting commercial projects in Tirana’s cultural life. The previous renovations’ additions will be removed to reveal a large interior space that had previously been hermetically sealed and inaccessible.

To make it safe for guests to climb to the top of the monument for sightseeing during events and festivals as part of these remarkable commercial projects, the Dutch company will also construct steps to the sloping concrete beams. The company intends to retain one of the slopes so that visitors can slide down it at their own risk. They are well aware of the custom of young people sliding down the pyramid’s slopes at night, adding an element of adventure to these commercial projects.

Architecture: MVRDV will open up the structure, giving it an inviting aspect with trees and other greenery. The new proposal calls for the placement of boxes intended for diverse activities inside, on top of, and surrounding the Pyramid.

For the residents of Tirana, these boxes will serve as classrooms, studios, cafes, and restaurants. The Pyramid will mostly be utilized by TUMO, a non-profit educational organization, to offer free after-school instruction to students aged 12 to 18 in subjects like software, robotics, animation, music, and cinema.

This project as one of the commercial projects also achieves a number of the Sustainable Development Goals stated by the United Nations with the spectacular makeover of this heritage property.

The design adapts to circular economy concepts by using the stone tiles that once decorated the façade of the pyramid to make stairs on the sloping beams, rather than wasting resources by destroying the structure and reusing it.

Only the additional boxes containing the educational activities will have systems for climate control as the structure will be open to its surroundings throughout the entire year, decreasing energy use. The initiative is focused on improving the site’s social sustainability, but the educational program that goes along with it is the icing on the cake in these commercial projects.

An example of how a structure from one era need not become an eyesore in another era is the renovation of the Pyramid of Tirana. The undertaking demonstrates the suitability of historic Brutalist structures for reuse. Rotterdam-based MVRDV makes an effort to change the monument’s appearance while simultaneously preserving its nuanced history.

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9. El Paso Children’s Museum

Architects: Snøhetta

Location: El Paso, Texas, USA

Type: Museum

Project Year: Ongoing

Project Overview and Details: The El Paso Children’s Museum, as one of the commercial projects, will be located in the city’s Downtown Arts District, and Snhetta has been chosen to design it. The team suggested an interactive garden below a vaulted museum that was raised off the ground to protect open space.

Snhetta, Koning Eizenberg Architecture, and TEN Arquitectos were the other two contenders who were asked to present proposals for the museum. Children and families from El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, the American southwest, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora are welcomed and encouraged to participate at the Children’s Museum.

Impact and Significance: The new El Paso Children’s Museum was created to foster open-ended, imaginative play and exploration and to serve as a civic classroom and hub for the families in the area. The design by Snhetta takes into account how the museum itself can function as a teaching instrument. As one of the commercial projects, promotes the distinctive culture and geography of El Paso while offering barrier-free access to educational opportunities. Its rooms and exhibitions capture both children’s and adults’ imaginations.

Architecture: The building’s distinctive shapes quickly distinguish it from other structures in the metropolitan skyline: the rectilinear base is covered in glass, offering inside views to tempt visitors to stop inside the public lobby, and the top is made up of a rippling succession of barrel vaults that climb to a cloud-like crown in these commercial projects.

The selection process, which included community engagement sessions, presentations, and a vote by the general public with the three firms, included the museum and the El Paso Community Foundation. The design will help the museum accomplish its goals of showcasing the city’s diverse population and fostering critical thinking, collaboration, and STEAM education cooperation.

The El Paso Children’s Museum, as one of the commercial projects, will be situated in the Downtown Arts District, which draws more than 1.5 million local, national, and international visitors each year, at 201 W. Main, in between the El Paso Museum of History and the El Paso Museum of Art.

The El Paso Museum of Art, the Museum of History, the only bilingual Holocaust museum in the nation, artist lofts, acclaimed performance spaces, a MiLB ballpark, a convention center, public art, festivals, green areas, and more are all located in the Arts District.

10. Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex

Architects: Behnisch Architekten

Location: Boston, US

Type: Education – College/University (campus-level), Laboratory

Project Year: 2021

Project Overview and Details: One of the world’s healthiest and most energy-efficient laboratory buildings is Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) one of the most important commercial projects.

The SEC is a key component of Harvard University’s mission to build a healthier, more sustainable campus, community, and planet. It is certified by two international sustainable building programs, the International Living Future Institute (Living Building Challenge Materials, Beauty, and Equity Petals) and the U.S. Green Building Council (LEED Platinum).

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Impact and Significance: By simultaneously reorienting the scientific research building typology towards ecological stewardship, establishing a new benchmark for healthy buildings on the Harvard University campus, and fostering an atmosphere of connection, collaboration, and community, the SEC was intended from the beginning to be a change agent. Although connected, each of these problems necessitated a fundamental reevaluation of institutional research building design in these commercial projects.

This required a broad and deep approach that balanced technical, anthropological, and ecological needs. This required analyzing researchers’ daily activity patterns, creating new health and safety standards for the campus, utilizing ultra-high-efficiency technologies, and investigating over 5,600 different building products and systems to reduce the use of dangerous substances like PFAs, cadmium, and lead.

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Architecture: The final 544,000-square-foot structure, as one of the commercial projects, was created to reflect the cutting-edge research that takes place inside, while also fostering connections between building inhabitants and New England’s natural beauty and way of life. To ensure quality daylighting throughout the facility, floor plate dimensions are kept to a minimum.

Generous vertical circulation in the form of open stairs, bridges, and ramps also encourages occupants to move around, to see and be seen, and to collaborate with coworkers. This extends to the project’s lower levels and outdoor areas, where not only students and researchers but also members of the local public are encouraged to stop by, stay a while, interact with and take in the artwork within, and take advantage of the expansive, regenerating outdoor spaces in these commercial projects.

The SEC is dependent on a network of interconnected self-regulating systems that support passive design techniques like a live, breathing creature. The architects and engineers of the building used advanced solar shading strategies, adaptable ventilation techniques, a high-performance heat recovery system, an energy-saving air cascade system, superior insulation, air-sealing techniques, triple glazing, and renewable energy to improve the building’s performance.

The SEC represents a significant advancement in Harvard’s efforts to prevent harm to ecology and human health and become fossil fuel-free by 2050. With the SEC, the design team and their collaborators have put research into action and turned a building typology that traditionally consumes a lot of energy into one that meets and exceeds current energy standards. And it’s one of the environmental commercial projects.

The team has inspired others to promote the design of healthier and more responsible built environments at all levels by collaborating with students, community members, local and international businesses, designers, and academics. Together, we are redefining sustainable building to take into account issues of equity, health, and the environment in these commercial projects.

11. Watershed

Architects: Weber Thompson

Location: Seattle, US

Type: Office

Project Year: 2021

Project Overview and Details: As one of the few structures included in Seattle’s Living Building Pilot program, this commercial project as one of the commercial projects, seeks to improve the environment beyond small-scale adjustments. Seattle’s rivers suffer from a serious stormwater runoff issue that is hurting wildlife. Watershed is a regenerative seven-story office building that is having a huge positive impact on these waterways.

The structure cleans more than 400,000 gallons of severely polluted water before it flows into the nearby Lake Union using techniques including a network of bioswales that step down the site’s hillside. Visitors and tenants are brought up to date on Watershed’s stellar performance inside its public lobby through a digital dashboard, frequent reports, and tours in these commercial projects.

Challenges and Solution: Stormwater is a problem in Seattle. Toxic chemicals are transported straight into the water surrounding Seattle by untreated runoff from bridges, roadways, and roofs. For the wildlife that lives alongside humans in urban rivers, particularly migrating salmon and their orca predators, this creates a habitat catastrophe.

The Watershed crew, As one of the creative commercial projects, set out to create a regenerative project, not just add to the issue. Through the design of the structure and its open spaces, it commemorates a tale of local water recovery, conservation, and treatment.

A wide cantilevered shed roof, lush bioswales sloping down a slope, and a responsive glass facade poised above an interesting streetscape: These design choices offer the chance for a new office block to have a positive effect on the neighborhood and area. The bioswales offer the public a green haven while filtering runoff from the nearby roadways and Aurora Bridge. Before flowing into Lake Union, 400,000 gallons of heavily polluted runoff are cleaned.

Architecture: The overhanging roof collects local rainfall (200,000 gallons annually), transports it to a sculptured steel scupper via a cascading downspout system, and then stores it in a 20,000-gallon cistern for nonpotable use. For toilets, urinals, and a small amount of on-site irrigation, the rainwater is filtered and reused. This results in an 88% decrease in potable water thanks to effective plumbing fixtures and tenant involvement in these commercial projects.

The Seattle Living Building Pilot program a novel land use incentive program that promotes actual building performance with increased height, area, and quicker permits, requires that this be measured and monitored. The outside lobby’s opening to the sky and acceptance of pouring rain strengthens the link to the water cycle by bringing us closer to the weather.

We are reminded by a Benjamin Franklin quotation that is written on the wall: “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” With a focus on materials, place, and beauty, the project has gained Salmon-Safe accreditation and plans to receive the Living Building Challenge Petal accreditation in 2024.

Living Materials (Design for Well-being + Resources): Construction materials were carefully chosen to steer clear of hazardous chemicals, promote manufacturer openness, lower embodied carbon, and boost the local economy through local procurement. This demand is supported by a sophisticated natural material palette that also connects to the ecology of the Pacific Northwest. Thus it’s one of the effective commercial projects.

Education, Inspiration, and Feedback (Design for Energy + Economy + Discovery): This speculative market-rate building demonstrates that high-performance architecture doesn’t have to be pricey with an energy consumption intensity of 28.2 kBtu/sf/year. This commercial project’s influence extends beyond its tenants and demonstrates how a new structure can improve the well-being of a community and an ecosystem in addition to its immediate surroundings.

The building’s ecological purpose is readily apparent to the general population. As one of the environmental commercial projects, residents and visitors can view the progress made towards annual water and energy use goals thanks to bioswales, sculptural channels, water features, and digital dashboards. Tenants are provided with frequent reports so they can modify their usage to fit the goals of the building. Others are motivated to assess their environmental consequences and create their high-performance initiatives via informative signage, instructive art, and tours in these commercial projects.