Simose Art Museum in Hiroshima, Japan, has been recognized as the worlds most beautiful museum at the 2024 Prix Versailles awards. The prestigious architecture prize highlights the finest contemporary projects worldwide across a number of categories in an annual ceremony held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. This is the first year the jury included a category for museums.Designed by Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban and completed in 2023, the celebrated cultural institution is defined by a collection of colorful glass galleries floating in a shallow water basin. Not only can each section be unmoored and moved depending on the current exhibit, the galleries are a masterful nod to the Setouchi Islands in the Seto Inland Sea, which the museum faces. Just behind the boxed galleries is a 590-foot-long, 28-foot-tall mirrored glass wall that reflects the landscape, creating the appearance of an environment twice as big as it is.I believe the innovative approach, such as the mobile gallery floating on water and the wooden structure, was recognized. This was the first occasion I was given the chance to design freely, and I truly appreciate everyone involved, Ban said in a statement about the award.Since 2015, the Prix Versailles has bestowed a number of most beautiful awards to various architectural projects across the world. The official listwhich pays tribute to innovation, creativity, reflections of local heritage, ecological efficiency and the values of social interaction and participation, which the United Nations holds in high regardis in line with the principles of intelligent sustainability, taking the projects ecological, social, and cultural impacts into consideration, the organization explains on its website.The movable galleries float on a shallow basin.Photo: Courtesy of Shigeru Ban Architects.