Top 10 architectural marvels around the world: The Hanoi Museum - Hanoi, Vietnam

The Hanoi Museum - Hanoi, Vietnam: While most visitors to Vietnam focus on temples and colonial buildings, a new modern museum in the country's capital might change that tradition. The Hanoi Museum, designed by GMP Architekten of Germany, incorporates some common themes of museum construction with a new twist, literally.

Photos of the museum's interior, with its white walls and large spiral ramp, somewhat resemble Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum, except the exterior of the Hanoi Museum completely contrasts the former's exterior. The Hanoi Museum resembles an inverted pyramid with four levels of descending squares, the bottom level significantly smaller than even the first floor. 

 

This significantly smaller bottom level means that the surrounding gardens and water features almost appear to begin beneath the building leading visitors from the outside in. This was also taken into account when planning the gardens and surrounding area of the museum.