Qatar National Library interior

The 11 Most Influential Buildings of 2018

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This majestic and modern library building has sides that lift at the edges to form a diamond-shaped profile, and an interior that’s arranged around three aisles of book shelves that enclose a central, triangular space. "The idea was to make reading as accessible and as stimulating as possible to the population of Qatar," says architect Rem Koolhaas. "We thought we could achieve that by creating a building that was almost a single room."