Book excerpt: This book presents a selection of the most exciting building projects in London since the year 2000. The first decade of the twenty-first century has marked out London as arguably the pre-eminent international city for innovative and ambitious architecture, with the design and construction of imaginative buildings of all types. Projects range in size and budget from such landmark structures as the 'Gherkin’ (30 St Mary Axe) and the forthcoming 'Shard’ (London Bridge Tower) to such cultural projects as the Young Vic theatre and the new Tate Modern extension; from offices, schools and hospitals to shops and private houses. With more than 650 stunning photographs, drawings and renderings, and critical texts by well-known architecture writer Kenneth Powell, this is a detailed and authoritative portrait - indispensable to professionals and the public alike - of a world city avid to embrace the best of the new.