ARCHITECTURE > The Newest Wonders in a Growing London

Britain's capital is bursting with new architecture, from Europe's tallest residential tower to the world's largest covered soccer stadium.

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life," wrote the 18th century British writer Samuel Johnson. "For there is in London all that life can afford." In terms of dynamic architecture, that saying is truer now than ever before.

One has only to stroll the capital's streets, from the dynamic financial area near St Paul's Cathedral, to St. Pancras station in the northeast, the Docklands area in the east and Battersea power station south of the river to see that the city is undergoing an extensive facelift.

"More is going on now than at any time since the Victorians," says Peter Murray, founder of New London Architecture, the city's first and only permanent exhibition space dedicated to the capital's architecture. He explains that the population of Europe's largest city is rising for the first time in decades, thanks to an influx of young people from the rest of Britain and Europe. According to a 2002 study for the capital's city hall, London will need to find housing and office space for 700,000 more people by 2016.

RE-POWERED. World-renowned architects have taken up the challenge with relish. Some, like Italian Renzo Piano have opted to create new, record-breaking edifices. His Shard Tower at London Bridge will be the tallest residential building in Europe on completion in 2010.

Others have tapped into London's rich architectural history to convert old industrial buildings from the 19th century into modern-day office and residential areas, like the Battersea power station project dreamed up by a team of five British architects.

Still more have looked to the nation's love of sport to push the boundaries of modern architecture. Football fans (that's soccer to Americans) are waiting with bated breath for the opening of the new Wembley Stadium, home of the English national team and the largest all-covered soccer stadium in the world. Winning the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games has also galvanized the city, with project work focused in the capital's down-at-heel Lea Valley, in the east.

With so much going on, New London Architecture's Murray has created a giant scale model of the city to track recently completed and upcoming projects.