Rafael Vi'oly Architects Dubbed the "Walkie Talkie" because of its top-heavy shape, this 39-story, 1.1 million-square-foot office tower is under construction, with completion expected in 2014. A sky garden will feature 360-degree views of the city. Image courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects 20 Fenchurch Street

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners This 47-story office tower looks like it might shave a block of parm quite well, hence its nickname: "The Cheese Grater." In fact, the wedge profile respects views of St. Paul's Cathedral. Image courtesy Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners 122 Leadenhall Street

The Elkhorn River Research Station could be mistaken for a rusting vestige of the steamboat days, left to disintegrate on the riverbank about 30 miles west of Omaha, like so many other industrial cast-offs.

Where there’s an architect, there are probably a few more—from the same gene pool. Architects beget architects, so it seems. Eliel Saarinen had Eero Saarinen. Two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s sons, Lloyd and John, became architects. Walter Gropius’s father was an architect. And if not begotten, then nearly so: Maya Lin’s architect aunt, Lin Huiyin, helped conduct the first comprehensive study of architecture in China. Charles Eames was the nephew of architect William Eames. Henry Smith-Miller, of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, could (and perhaps should) write a book about his family of architects, which stretches back, with baroque twists and

Image courtesy of SWA SWA has designed the public open spaces for Suzhou Center. Click to view more images. Related Links: China News Old Factories Get New Wrapping in Shanghai EMBT Designs Zhang Da Qian Museum in Neijiang International landscape architecture firm SWA has been working in the city of Suzhou since 2003, providing landscape design and planning services for a number of projects, including the Gao Xin District and all 45 acres of Suzhou Industrial Park Times Square. Having proven its ability to weave contemporary, pedestrian-friendly design into a city with a rich 2,500-year history of canals, gardens, and

Francis Kéré takes the top prize for a secondary school in his rural Burkina Faso village. The 2012 Global Holcim Award winners were announced today, with Berlin-based architect Diébédo Francis Kéré taking the Gold Award and $200,000 for a secondary school he designed for his native village of Gando, Burkina Faso. As Kéré’s practice has grown (with current projects in countries ranging from Switzerland to China) he has remained dedicated to improving conditions in his 6,000-person village. He has designed, raised funds to build, and coordinated the construction of public buildings from a primary school—for which he won the Aga

Of the three new buildings that compose Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) at Bennington College in Vermont, it is the program-less “Lens” that best represents the iconoclastic institution where students have been designing their own curricula since 1932.