National Stadium

The Chinese call their new Herzog & de Meuron-designed Olympic stadium "the bird's nest." It's an apt description. The façade—a spectacular mass of geometric, crisscrossing lines from afar and an unruly thicket up close—acts as the supportive structure. It encloses a unique transitional space surrounding the stadium, which, after the Olympics, will be transformed into vast public areas containing shops, restaurants and hotels. —Betsy Kroll