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Our readers selection of (mostly) urban design masterpieces contrast or harmonise with traditional surroundings

Winning tip: Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria

With its quirky blob architecture, this gallery is nicknamed the friendly alien by locals, and viewed from Schlossberg hill in the city centre, it does look like an extraterrestrial has landed smack bang in the old town especially at night, when the facade glows in a pixellated light show. The contemporary art shows are well worth a look, too.
Adult 9.50, 6-26 years 3.50, museum-joanneum.at
Joe

Oodi central library, Helsinki

Helsinki
Photograph: Tuomas Uusheimo/Visit Finland

You can tell Im pretty obsessed with our new library, my Finnish friend said when I asked for highlights. And from the sunlit top floor of the Oodi library we could see why she was so enthusiastic. Rows of books in all languages were spread out below for browsing, comfy chairs with travellers hiding out for a few hours, play areas, and a cafe with an all-you-can-eat brunch. It felt as if anyone from anywhere could find their place for a moment or hours. We had a cinnamon bun and coffee, taking obligatory photos trying to capture the architecture!
oodihelsinki.fi
Fran

Profile

Readers’ tips competition: send a tip for a chance to win a 200 voucher

Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print, and the best entry each week (as chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet) wins a 200 voucher from hotels.com. To enter the latest competition visit the readers’ tips homepage

Port House, Antwerp, Belgium

Port
Photograph: Getty Images

Ship in the sky! Driving through the Port of Antwerp, we came upon the Port House, designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2016. The Port Authority wished to renovate the fire station and add a new building to house over 500 employees. What makes it so striking is that it retains the old brick fire station, with a new glass structure, representing a sailing boat on a hydrofoil. It looks impressive from any angle.
There are guided tours on Tues, Thurs and Sat.visitantwerpen.be
Paul Tunney

Mucem, Marseille

Tourists
Photograph: Argalis/Getty Images

At the entrance to Marseilles harbour sits the black cube of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, opened in 2013. The first French national museum outside Paris, designed by Rudy Ricciotti, it radiates a confidence that could brush off criticism with a Gallic shrug. The black concrete latticework channels papparazzi-like flashes of the sun on the sea. You can walk around the building without paying to see the exhibitions, and relax on loungers. Cross the bridge to Fort St Jean and you travel through time as the modern gives way to the 17th-century fort walls.
mucem.org
Helen Clayton

Sainte-Marie de la Tourette, near Lyon

View
Photograph: Getty Images

Driving to the south of France, we found what Le Corbusier had planned for Dominican friars 60 years earlier: silence and peace. Keeping watch from a hillside, the Sainte Marie de La Tourette monastery is a brutalist box with an inner beauty. My nine-year-old daughter and I were the only non-architect visitors on the guided tour, and we marvelled at the shapes conjured in concrete. Like any good tour, it ends with a big reveal, and the mastery of space, light and colour in the main chapel are a spiritual experience for those of any faith and none.
couventdelatourette.fr
Adrian Knowles

Botn Arts Centre, Santander, Spain

The
Photograph: Justa Hopma

This waterfront arts centre and cafe was built in 2014, and what really sets it apart is the terrace roof, which extends across the pedestrian walkway over the sea, creating a sense of continuity between land and ocean. Mirrors on the ceiling create a magical effect through the suns reflection on the moving surface of the water.
centrobotin.org
Justa

National Library of Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo

The
Photograph: Arian Selmani/Getty Images

Ugly isnt it, in a beautiful way! my friend said. This geometric and bubbly building is the National Library of Kosovo. Nobody warned me as I set out to explore. All of a sudden there it was, like a Rubiks Cube for passing giants to play with. This asymmetrical jumble of cubes and domes, far more beautiful than ugly, sits in solitude at the heart of a scrubby park all the better for appreciating its myriad aspects. And frankly what other building would dare go near it!
dtk.rks-gov.net
Tim Nichols

Metropol Parasol, Seville

A
Photograph: Sean Pavone/Getty Images

Towering over the cathedrals and palaces of Sevilles old quarter, the Metropol Parasol is a strikingly modern wooden structure by German architect Jrgen Mayer. Known locally as Las Setas (mushrooms) de Sevilla, the hugely ambitious project on Plaza de la Encarnacin incorporates designs inspired by the vaults of Seville Cathedral. Its unique aesthetic has polarised opinion. Nevertheless, it provides an unmatched panaroma of the beautiful cityscape
Entry 3 including a drink,
alcazartickets.com
Jack

City Pavilion, Ghent, Belgium

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/oct/17/great-modern-architecure-buidings-uk-europe-readers-tips

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