From staggeringly large bridges to stadiums to towers, 2012 was a year of grand designs.
1. Olympic Stadium, London
The home base of the 2012 Summer Olympics managed to be big and bold but minimalist at the same time. The oval-shaped centrepiece of the new Olympic Park seated 80,000 for the Olympics, but used just 10,000 tons of steel - the Bird's Nest in Beijing featured 42,000 tons. The final result of the architects' materials-cutting was a stadium 75 percent lighter than it would have been if designers had gone with a full-concrete version. Today crews are retracting the stadium even more, pulling away the fabric roof and Lego-like steel supports to create a final-use stadium that seats just 25,000. It won't be as spectacular as the Olympic guise. But, hey, it's better than letting Olympic venues fall into disrepair.
2. Aizhai Suspension Bridge, China
If you're skittish about heights or confined spaces, maybe the Aizhai Suspension Bridge, which is the world's highest bridge connecting two tunnels and also one of the world's longest suspension bridges, isn't for you. Formally opened in March 2012, the bridge hovers roughly 1200 feet over the Dehang Canyon and spans a tower-to-tower distance of 3858 feet. Engineers used the two mountains on either side to help anchor the suspension tower heights. It produces a more striking visual for those driving the bridge, even if they don't see the approaching marvel and its 1888 adorning lights until they pop out from the mountain.
3. One World Trade Centre, New York City
While work continues on placing the final spire atop One World Trade Centre and won't finish until March 2013, the bulk of the finishing work on what will become the tallest building in the U.S., at 1776 feet, was done in 2012. The 2.6-million-square-foot building will host office space, restaurants, and retail space. But expect the most popular spot to be the observation deck, complete with a glass-metal wall, atop the 69th floor. The tower's big milestone for 2012 came in October, when workers completed the 105th floor and One World Trade officially became the tallest building in New York City, a mark the Empire State Building had owned since 9/11.
4. T30 Hotel, China
Broad Sustainable Building built a 30-story high-rise in 15 days. That's bold: In 360 hours the company threw up a hotel with 350 guest rooms, plus amenities including a swimming pool and a helipad. BSB made plenty of waves with its construction process - basically a modular design stacked one story right on top of the next. But the company plans to make even more noise next year by building the world's tallest structure - 220-story Sky City tower - in a mere 90 days.
5. Russky Bridge, Russia
At a total length of over 10,000 feet, the $1 billion Russky Bridge connecting Vladivostok to Russky Island in southeastern Russia became the world's longest cable-stayed bridge when it was completed in July. Russky uses 168 cable stays from its towers to support the load of the bridge, and pylons over 1000 feet high to anchor the cables. Just the central channel of the bridge (there are three segments) is made of a four-lane roadway more than 3600 feet in length, which is about the length of the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge's longest cables, which are also the longest on any bridge in the world, stretch nearly 2000 feet.
6. Aquatics Centre, London
The roof alone makes visitors stop and stare. It took some final tweaks just before the Olympics to get the building ready for the onslaught of 17,500 spectators each day, but once the games began the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre was quickly dubbed The Stringray because of that fantastical top, a portion of which served as a bridge running across the wave-inspired design to welcome visitors to the Olympic Park.
Inside, the centre had three pools, holding a total of 2.6 million gallons of water. "It looks incredible," U.S. Olympic gold medallist swimmer Ricky Berens said. "After Beijing, I was wondering if London would try and outdo the incredible venues, and London produced something very unique. It has an amazing look to it."
7. Barclays Centre, Brooklyn, New York
The very fact that a state-of-the-art NBA (and soon NHL) arena was built in Brooklyn stands as a major accomplishment (albeit one dogged by controversy). But the roughly $1 billion Barclays Centre was designed to be admired. The 675,000 square feet of space houses close to 18,000 Brooklyn Nets fans under the striking flowing roof, glass walls, and 12,000 weathered-steel panels whose rusty colour is meant to riff on Brooklyn's famed brownstones and to form a protective layer against moisture and corrosion.
8. Circle Line, Singapore
While the vast majority of the 22-plus-mile mass transit line was completed in 2011, Singapore completed work on a two-station extension of about 1.5 miles in spring 2012, giving us a reason to put one of the longest tunnels in the world on our list. The complete circle boasts a fully automated 28-station line that can take an hour to travel. The deepest station drops 115 feet below ground.
9. Skytree, Tokyo
In May lines of people wrapped around Tokyo to get an elevator ride up Tokyo Skytree, which is now the tallest "tower" in the world at 2080 feet (Burj Khalifa remains the world's tallest building), surpassing China's 1968-foot-tall Caton Tower. The $1.8 billion tower, which took four years to build, houses six television transmission antennas. With two observation decks offering panoramas of the Japanese capital - one at 1148 feet and another at 1476 feet - the tower anticipates drawing 32 million visitors in the first year.
10. Three Gorges Dam, China
This dam is big and bad on so many levels. The $59 billion, 17-year project to build the world's largest dam on China's Yangtze River finally finished when the last turbine came online in July. At 595 feet tall, 131 feet wide, and over 7600 feet long, the Three Gorges Dam has an installed capacity of 22,500 Mw. The dam features 32 main turbines, which the Chinese government says is the most sustainable of ways to generate hydro-powered electricity, and will limit future flooding. Never mind that 1.3 million people were displaced during the construction and formation of the dam's 405-square-mile reservoir, according to Reuters.
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