This summer sees the latest gathering of world class athletes for the world’s biggest sporting event: the London 2012 Olympics. The games will be held in London for the third time in their 116 year history. (The first two times were much more modest affairs in 1908 and 1948) Alongside the feats of athletic prowess, the host city will be aiming to impress with some cutting-edge designs.

Alongside the various stadia, the Olympic village, where the athletes will stay, are also looking to be a ground-breaking contribution to urban design. Once the athletes have moved out of their apartments, ordinary Londoners will be heading to Ikea for their furniture and then moving in.

One area where the Olympic village aims to be especially ground-breaking is in the area of finance – holding the Games can be very costly for the public purse, but this games aims to actually contribute to the finances of central and local government. And while betting on the games is legal, if you can’t wait for summer there’s always partycasino.com. The new homes will also be built according to the UK’s Code Sustainable Homes Level 4 and will include access to parkland, shops and transport links.

Landscape design will be provided by Swiss firm Vogt Landschaftarchitekten and urban designers Patel Taylor, with help from Fletcher Priest. Architects involved in the design of buildings include Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, DSDHA and Denton Corker Marshall.

Despite the innovative design of the Olympic Village, the stadia are probably where the most eye-catching design is seen. The Olympics Aquatic Centre (that’s how they spell center over there; the French influence apparently) has been designed by Zaha Hadid with characteristic flourish. The lines have been influence by the flowing links of water in motion; the roof is said to look like a wave sweeping up from the sea.

One area where the home team are hoping to excel is in the area of track cycling, where people such as Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton all have chances of taking home gold medals. All the track cycling events will take place in the London Velopark. This building was designed by Hopkins Architects and Grant Associates and is sufficiently arresting to already have earned it’s own nick name: The Pringle, as it looks like a giant chip.

It would be remiss of us to mention Olympic architecture and design without mentioning the main Olympic stadium. Designed by Populous who tried to make it ‘the world’s most environmentally friendly Olympic Stadium’ as the London 2012 aims to be a ‘Green Games’. Populous were also responsible for Miami’s Sun Life Stadium, Minneapolis’s Target Field and Wimbledon Centre Court among other huge jobs.

Finally, let’s not forget Anish Kapoor’s gigantic tower. The ArcelorMittal Orbit as it is formally known, is said to be inspired by the tower of Babel. What could be a better symbol of the gathering of the nations for the Olympic Games?

This article has been contributed by partycasino.com.