Building will house major touring exhibitions from V&A and other international museums and galleries

Competing designs by some of the world's leading architects for a new £47m outpost of the Victoria & Albert museum in Dundee were unveiled today, with the proposals resembling a teetering boulder, an iceberg and a crystal.

The new international centre for design is to be built close to Discovery Point, on the banks of the River Tay, and is scheduled to open in 2014.

It will house major touring exhibitions from the V&A as well as from other international museums and galleries.

The leading US architect Steven Holl has proposed a building sunk into to the river bed, while the Vienna-based firm Delugan Meissl Associated Architects designed a rock-shaped building that balances precipitously.

Scottish architecture is represented by Sutherland Hussey Architects.

"Fantastic designs from brilliant architects," Mark Jones, the director of the V&A, said. "Its great to see that the competition for the V&A at Dundee has attracted such a strong international response."

It is hoped that the new building will attract an additional 500,000 visitors a year to the city.