The best of 2010: The top three architecture Seeds of the year

Italy, Spain, China – My favourite Seeds in the architecture sector revealed details of a prize-winning museum, a holiday retreat featuring a grazing calf, and a rough-luxe hotel.

Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi museum in Rome was first highlighted on our Seed section in June, and has since won the Riba Stirling Prize 2010 for the greatest contribution to architecture in the past year. The curvaceous and super-modern museum is typical of Hadid’s artful style.

La Trufa by Ensamble Studio used a unique technique to create the holiday home in Madrid. The use of natural and traditional techniques has created a bespoke architecture that has captured the imagination, and prompted a chorus of ‘ahs’ from the LS:N Global team when they saw the image of the little calf.

Peng Loh’s The Waterhouse Hotel in Shanghai focuses on the local. Local hotels is also a micro trend we examined in our latest Luxury Futures report. The aesthetic of the hotel design is Rough Luxe, a design direction we covered in our Inspire section.

Every day from 20 December until the end of the year, the LS:N Global team is choosing its favourite stories from 2010. We will resume normal service on Tuesday 4 January 2011.