World Building of the Year 2016: See the most striking nominees
From Zaha Hadid's Alpine-peak museum to a glass-bricked Chanel store, the World Architecture Festival celebrates the best in design
Almost 350 projects from all over the globe have been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival's Building of the Year Award.
Fifty-eight countries are represented in the line-up, which features both completed buildings and planned projects. The UK leads the way for the number of nominees, Dezeen reports, followed by Australia and Turkey.
Divided into 32 categories, including shopping, places of worship and schools, hotels and leisure, the 343 buildings represent a diverse array of purposes and styles.
Among the most ambitious buildings is a museum at the top of the Alpine peak Mount Kronplatz. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, it is dedicated to renowned climber Reinhold Messner.
Netherlands-based architect firm MVRDV has also made it onto the shortlist for the pioneering glass technology it used to replace the brick facade of an Amsterdam townhouse, which is now home to a Chanel boutique.
As well as a winner will be revealed in each category, there will be an overall World Building of the Year and a Future Project of the Year. The prizes will be announced in Berlin in November.
Last year's World Building of the Year was the Interface, a residential complex in Singapore. The "vertical village" comprises apartment blocks stacked at angles to form several hexagons, each containing a courtyard. Festival director Paul Finch heralded the complex as a "radical new approach to contemporary living in a tropical environment".
