In May 2016, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art opens a giant extension, too. Designed by Snøhetta, the Norwegian studio responsible for the charismatic Oslo Opera House (2008) and the impressive Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria, Egypt, 2002), the extension is squeezed between the original building, designed by Mario Botta and opened in 1995, and flanking skyscrapers. Clad in a striking garb of striated silver-grey fibreglass-reinforced polymer, its abstracted cloud-like form is inspired, say the architects, by the city’s foggy weather and dramatic seascape. Theatrical, generous, well crafted, and linked to the existing gallery by a monumental stair, this ‘dancing partner’ for the original Postmodern building will surely pull in the crowds.

And, yet, for all the many sky-high and culturally ambitious new buildings peppering the skylines of global cities in 2016, the year will also offer a clutch of modest and beautifully thought through designs that, after so much bombast, will surely be a comfort to those who believe architecture and art have quiet healing powers and are not just there to help fill the pages of The Guinness Book of Records.

At Downing College, Cambridge, Caruso St John are completing the conversion of an Edwardian stable block into a gallery designed to display paintings. This is part of an equally low key, yet thoughtful, new residential court for students. The gallery will be a very different proposition in terms of design and ambition from Tate Modern 2, and yet it is likely to be a much easier place to enjoy works of art.