The legacy of famed architect Zaha Hadid continues to unfold months after her death at age 65 as a long list of her final projects continue in various stages of development, from those currently under construction to concepts that may forever remain unbuilt. But even putting aside the many outstanding and unrealized designs remaining on her firm’s docket, Hadid’s influence on modern architecture lives on through the work of her students at the Yale School of Architecture.

During their semester-long project at Zaha Hadid’s final studio course, a group of students envisioned a striking new development for London’s Bishopsgate Goodsyard, a flowing white complex in the architect’s signature biomimetic style. Consisting of a high-density residential tower, a mid-rise block and a train station acting as a bridge between the two, the proposal adds some height and visual interest to the largest undeveloped piece of land remaining in central London.

Lisa Albaugh, Benjamin Bourgoin, Jamie Edindjiklian, Roberto Jenkins and Justin Oh present a futuristic network of  gleaming white structures with a skeletal appearance, as if someone took the carcass of some extinct megabeast and reassembled it into a deconstructed approximation of a Gothic cathedral. The spaces between the rib-like columns are filled in with wavy walls of glass decorated with veinous ribbons of gold.

Viaducts at the base act as access points to a series of public spaces, including a park landscape, connecting the various functions within the complex. All of the different elements that would normally be contained within a traditional tower core are instead spread into individual ‘strands,’ like the elevators, stairs and mechanical systems, freeing up the tower’s center for unusual cross-views out of all that glass.

It would seem that the proposal is pure fantasy, given that the developers of the site, Hammerson and Ballymore, have already produced their own proposal. But Londoners have made it clear that they aren’t too keen on that design, with over 11,000 residents signing a petition against it. Critics argue that the developers’ proposal “would result in unacceptable and avoidable significant negative impacts” to the neighborhood.

A city with a history dating back over 2,000 years, London has transformed dramatically over the last four centuries in particular, rising from the ashes of a 17th century fire that practically razed it to the ground. See just how its skyline has evolved in an interactive set of hand-drawn images by Robin Reynolds, building upon the classic engraving by artist Claes Jansz Visscher that was created fifty years before the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Back then, London was a jumble of low-lying houses punctuated by a few church spires. The Great Plague had just swept through the unsanitary and overcrowded city, killing about one-fifth of the population. Thousands were dying every single day when a bakery on Pudding Lane went up in flames, quickly spreading through the city, destroying about 60% of its architecture (but effectively putting an end to the plague.)

The rebuilt city generally followed the street plan of the original one, with a shift from wooden buildings to more fire-resistant stone and brick construction. Growth shot through the roof in the 18th century and the city’s boundaries expanded outward at a rapid pace.

In Visscher’s original engraving, you can spot the severed heads on pikes in the foreground of the original London Bridge, which was once lined with shops and houses. The London Bridge remained the only structure crossing the Thames until 1750, when it was joined by Westminster Bridge, and it has since been replaced twice. After 600 years of service, the medieval bridge was torn down, a 19th-century stone-arched bridge in its place. The current crossing is a box girder bridge of concrete and steel, opened to traffic in 1974.

Watch the old 6-foot-long engraving morph into Reynold’s modern-day version at The Guardian, where it’s clipped into four sections to view each part in detail.

Rendered in minute detail right down to curtain colors, satellite dishes and graffiti, these paper miniatures mimic London’s iconic Brutalist buildings, including the Balfron Tower and Space House. Two housing blocks that have been at least partially demolished are among the 3D cut-out models celebrating and preserving these oft-maligned concrete structures.

Zupagrafika design studio carefully studied each building, taking photographs from all angles to capture the smallest details. The collection of five models is available for €5 each at their webshop, arriving in a flat pack so you assemble the components yourself. The kits include short notes on the architects, the year of construction and the location of each building.

The studio previously created paper cut-out models of modernist buildings in Warsaw as well as notable elements of the urban fabric throughout Poland that were first designed in the ’60s or ’70s, including advertising columns, cars, traffic lights and ticket validators.

Brutalist architecture is one of the 20th century’s most controversial styles, criticized for being too cold and confrontational and nearly always made of raw concrete. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but anyone with a soft spot for its harsh angles and unapologetically utilitarian nature can now create their own little cityscapes on a table or shelf.

Imagine enjoying your own little private enclave with a vast outdoor space and virtually unlimited view – right in the middle of London, perched atop the Queen Elizabeth Hall, no less. A competition organized by Living Architecture and Artangel called ‘A Room for London‘ sought submissions for a temporary one-bedroom ‘hotel’ that will be available to two guests per night for all of 2012, and this entry – by Design Initiatives – is almost cloud-like, floating in the space between the ground and the sky.

Design Initiatives puts forth this proposal as a zen, contemplative place of withdrawal and retreat even in the midst of 2012 London, where the Olympic Games will certainly incite more activity, noise and rowdiness than ever. The abstracted curvilinear shape makes the temporary living space a sculptural object, acting as both a focal point for the city below and an overlook for the lucky guests who get to sleep within its walls.

The soft, organic, biomorphic shape of the hotel is a jarring yet welcome contrast to the harsh brutalist architecture of the building upon which it will rest. Pre-fabricated in two separate pieces for ease of transport and made from lightweight fiber-reinforced polymer, the structure is fittingly ephemeral.

The living space is enclosed with one all-glass wall, giving occupants protection from the London climate but maintaining a view of the city at all times. Inside, the small room is made functional through multi-purpose furniture; Design Initiatives imagines an all-in-one hybrid piece that combines the bed, sofa, desk, coffee table, bedside table and a shelf. Attached to this compact and cozy space is a covered terrace that provides a transition between the room itself and the open air of the rooftop.