From Britain to the Middle East and China, engineers and architects are pushing the boundaries of possibility as they strive to create the biggest and the best.

In the 1980s, British architect Norman Foster revolutionised the airport terminal with Stansted airport. His innovations involved streamlining the systems and machines that make up this most complex of buildings.

Now, Zaha Hadid has been brought in to add her magic to Beijing's Daxing airport, set to be the world's largest. The new Terminal One will have a radial spoke-like plan, designed to reduce passenger travel distances yet still stretching well over a kilometre end-to-end. Hadid's main contribution will be one of her trademark smoothly undulating roof surfaces.