Lisbon's latest riverfront star is this low-rise, glazed-tiled structure that intriguingly hips and sways into ground-level exhibition halls. Visitors can walk over and under its reflective surfaces, which play with water, light and shadow, and pay homage to the city's intimate relationship with the sea.
The striking building was designed by UK-based Amanda Levete (famed for winning the rights to design London's Victoria & Albert Museum expansion). The museum includes several spaces: four temporary exhibition galleries in the main building; four additional temporary galleries at Central Tejo (the red-brick former 1900 power station next door, whose permanent big-gun machinery and massive coal-burning generators are definite geek-out territory for engineering buffs); an outdoor garden conceived by landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic; a river-view restaurant; and a funky footbridge that crosses Av de Brasília. Cutting-edge exhibitions, up to 15 per year, focus on visual arts, media, architecture, technology and science.