From the best of times to the worst of times: The end of the decade was an end of an era for architecture, and the beginning of something else. After the late-aughts hoopla of the Beijing Olympics, years of cancerous museum expansion, and a few too many glitzy condos, everything came crashing down in 2009, a year that started with a giant hole in Chicago and ended with the inevitable collapse of the Dubai boom. It was a hard year for a top five list — most news was about what wasn’t happening, not what was. But good work was out there, hiding in plain sight. (OK, sometimes not so plain: Troy, New York, anyone?) The great architecture of ’09 was introspective, as if the discipline poked out its head, groundhog-style, saw its shadow cast by apocalyptic flames, and got the hell out of there. Local beat global, craft beat flash, and ideas beat image. With fewer magazine pages left to grace, photogenic buildings couldn’t sell themselves as well anymore. Which isn’t so bad: It means the best projects of the year demanded a closer look.

Here are five of the best.