Favourite buildings

From Babylon to Millau: Jonathan Glancey picks his favourite buildings – in pictures

The Guardian's architecture and design correspondent, Jonathan Glancey, has visited some of the world's most spectacular buildings. As he hangs up his notebook, he looks back at some of the projects – ancient and modern – that have enchanted him over the past 15 years

guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 February 2012 12.12 GMT

Jonathan Glancey: 'At Samarra, in northern Iraq, I climbed to the top of the wondrous spiral minaret of what was once the town's Great Mosque. How the sun shone that day. When I got to the top, there was nothing to hang on to'. Photograph: Reuters

'I thought the Millennium Experience (the talk of the day) decidedly dimwitted … New Labour, meanwhile, promised it would do things for architecture and urban design that Roman emperors and Renaissance princes could only have dreamed of'. Photograph: David Levene for The Guardian

'There have been buildings and structures that have stopped me in my tracks because of their beauty or audacity, and sometimes both. I think of watching the Eiffel Tower-high pylons of Le Viaduc de Millau, by Michel Virlogeux and Norman Foster'. Photograph: Jean-Phillipe Arles / Reuters

'I visited the Beijing National Stadium, the Bird's Nest by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, on a day of relentless rain; it was worth getting drenched to see this dazzling interplay of art, architecture and engineering'. Photograph: How Hwee Young / EPA

'Foster's restaurant and bar at the top of 30 St Mary Axe, or the Gherkin, in the City of London, which also opened in 2004, resembles the nose-cone of some fabulous airship; it is one of the most spectacular of all modern rooms'. Photograph: Dan Chung for The Guardian

A view of the Burj Dubai … 'Soon after the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, I was asked to write a 2,000 word article on whether or not the skyscraper had a future, and could have answered in a single word: yes'. Photograph: Ali Haider / EPA

'The inspiring reinvention of St Pancras station by Alastair Lansley and fellow architects'. Photograph: Cate Gillon / Getty Images

'I have been moved by Charles Barclay's timber Kielder Observatory, where I spent a night in 2008 watching stars hanging above the Northumbrian forest'. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

'I have been enchanted by Blur, a truly sensational pavilion by Diller + Scofidio set on a steel jetty overlooking Lake Neuchatel at Yverdon-les-Bains'. Photograph: Diller Scofidio And Renfro

The Contemporary Art Museum by Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil … 'I can't help feeling, [that it's] harder to create great buildings now than it was in the past'. Photograph: Marcelo Sayao / EPA

The ramp of Brasilia's National Museum, by Oscar Niemeyer … 'Architecture is also the stuff of construction, engineering, maths and science'. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Lloyd's Building, City of London … 'Have things improved since I started here, in 1997? It is too short a time span to tell. Good architecture is still being created'. Photograph: Arcaid Images / Alamy

Overlook Mountain House