Starchitecture trail

Within minutes of touching down in Beijing this year visitors will come face to face with the world’s biggest building boom: their first glimpse will be at the new airport terminal, designed in gold and red by Norman Foster Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP

The airport terminal occupies a space larger than all of Heathrow’s terminals combined, and was built in less time than it took Heathrow’s new terminal 5 to even get approved Photograph: CSPA/NewSport/Corbis

The a brilliant, buoyant National Aquatics Center, or “Water Cube,” features a bubble-wrapped exterior and is the perfect yin to the bird's nest yan Photograph: Arian Bradshaw/EPA

Unlike the National Stadium, the Water Cube promises a more vibrant life after the Games, when it will become a recreational centre Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

And - provided its minders can keep off the city’s dust - the gorgeous translucent envelope allows in more light and heat than glass, helping to warm the building’s five pools and slashing energy costs by 30% Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

The stunning National Stadium’s unique shell fosters natural air circulation, while a translucent membrane covers gaps to protect the stadium’s 91,000 spectators from rain Photograph: Adam Pretty/Getty

The 44,000 tonnes of steel that bend and swerve around the hulking National Stadium make it look more like a Martian mother-ship. Cynics have likened it to a “hairy donut” or, more chillingly, barbed wire Photograph: Feng Li/Getty

It wasn’t its complex design but the controversy surrounding it that put the world’s largest performing arts centre three years behind schedule. Many complained that French the egg-shaped building would have been more fitting for a sci-fi film Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP

Others questioned the cost of the building (£35,000 per seat) and the sky-high cost of daily maintenance to keep it dust-free Photograph: China Photos/Getty

But since the theatre opened in December, the outcry has been drowned out by cheers for its luminous design and fabulous acoustics Photograph: Adrian Bradshaw/EPA/Corbis

Each 40-story, 60-degree-leaning tower of China state TV's headquarters twists dramatically at the bottom and top, forming a single loop that has earned it many nicknames, including wei fang, or “dangerous building” Photograph: China Photos/Getty

Rumours have swirled that some employees are too scared to occupy it Photograph: OMA/epa/Corbis

Filters in the Linked Hybrid building protect residents from Beijing’s pollution, but the building is also designed to protect the environment: beneath the complex sits a wastewater recycling plant and one of the world’s largest geothermal systems, which eliminates the need for boilers or electrical air conditioners Photograph: Steven Holl Architects