One of the most important aspects of achitecture is selecting the right materials to build a building or part of a building. There are some rather exciting new materials that have cropped up that are showing some promise and are already being used in the most modern buildings around the world.

Transparent Concrete: OK, so its not really transparent, but this stuff is pretty impressive. They lace normal concrete with optic fibers to make a concrete wall that looks solid as anything, but lets light through.

Transparent Aluminum: Still in its early stages an much too difficult to make in large enough quantities for anything other than military vehicles, but if they figure it out, transparent aluminium is much stronger than bullet proof glass at a fraction of the thickness. You could build transparent skyscrapers.

Aerogel: Aerogel is the least dense solid ever created. Because of this it is one of the most efficient insulation you can get. If you have ever played around with the stuff, it feels a bit like the floral foam people use to put flowers in, but it weighs so little, its like its not there at all. It messes with your head a little.

Solar Windows: Solar Windows are designed to soak up a small amout of light that passes through and convert it into energy. The Gherkin uses something very similar and ends up generating enough power to make it one of the most cost efective sky scrapers in the world.