Lord Norman Foster

The 73-year-old Baron Foster of Thames Bank has had as rough a year as any of his fellow starchitects: Work in Russia has tanked; his remodeling of Europe's biggest soccer stadium, Barcelona's famed Nou Camp, has been delayed; and he had to lay off more than 300 employees. But the guy who gave London its iconic "Gherkin" has shown versatility far beyond big razzle-dazzle buildings. His light-infused design for the elephant house at Copenhagen's zoo is a tour de force, and his proposed redesign of London's double-decker Routemaster bus has won raves. But it's his plan for Masdar City -- Abu Dhabi's ambitious and unprecedented $22 billion zero-carbon, zero-waste community -- that, if realized, will be his most significant legacy. -- by Linda Tischler