It's not as if the building is aesthetically unpleasent or uninteresting, in fact the subtlety of the lines that define its identity can cause a positive impression effortelessly in almost anyone, and these so called (or self proclaimed) celebrity architects have proven beyond any reasonable doubt their sensibility towards beauty... enough with this superficial beddazzlement undressed of valuable input. We all know you can do it, but i'm longing for an example of starchitecture that presents some novelty, not the same old repetetition of invention or inovation. It's tiring to perceive over and over again this (almost) agonizing sense of entitlement to the notion of place, as if everything should now morph into what they concocted in their minds, stripping selfishly the site of some characteristics that might have once existed. This is not addition, only subtraction.

Just to ilustrate: not long ago in an interview for The Guardian about Hannah Pool, Zaha Hadid was asked if because of the fuss about the cost, and the recession she wished she had designed a more modest building. She answered:

"No. In these moments of recession, uplifting the spirit is even more important and we should learn from things that were done in the past that were done in a hurry."

This answer reflects plain stupidity and the typical illusion of someone who just gave up on dwelling in this world. I'm exagerating, of course, but this answer is, nonetheless just weak sauce.
"It's quite unfortunate to witness someone who started her career with one of the most challenging approaches to convention and norm, now embracing this impudent architecture of representational power. And practice it without a hint of reflection on plain economic legitimacy, not to mention morality." (quote from a barriga de um arquitecto)

Despite...

Located on the western outskirts of Shanghai, China, it's constructed of concrete, steel and glass. The new corporate headquarters of Giant Pharmaceutical Corp looks for all the world like something between a sci-fi battleship landing on a highway, and a steampunk dragon frozen in time. L.A.-based architectural firm Morphosis is focusing on the building’s sustainability as much as its aesthetics, with a green roof, generous use of skylights, and advanced insulation materials like cement-fiberboard paneling and a double-layer, fritted-glass curtain wall.

Slated for completion in 2009, the project will house executive offices in the cantelievered “head” of the structure, while the remaining elements—additional offices, a boutique hotel, exhibition hall, auditorium, library, gymnasium and swimming pool—will be contained in the “body” which arcs over a four-lane highway.
“In China, you can do things formally you just can’t do in the U.S. — aggressive, uncompromised, out-there ideas” said Morphosis principal and Pritzker Prize 2005 winner Thom Mayne, clearly implying that aesthetic and economic concerns outweigh ethical considerations. Sadly, Mayne’s is the prevailing attitude among today’s brand-name architects.

In 2009, one of the most eagerly anticipated buildings in the last 20 years was to be completed: The headquarters of CCTV in Beijing, designed by Rem Koolhaas and OMA.

A striking, integral piece of that complex was the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Sadly, it looks like the hotel has almost completely burned down this morning.

"Flames 20-30 feet high shot out of the building, just north of the landmark CCTV tower designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. The flames were reflected in the tower, which itself appeared to be untouched. No one appeared to have been in the building, a policeman on the scene said, adding he had no immediate knowledge of any casualties. The destroyed building housed the Mandarin Oriental hotel in eastern Beijing, which was supposed to open in 2009. The fire department did not immediately comment on the suspected cause of the blaze."

Reuters

Here's a video of the entire complex, and a series of views of the MO Hotel:

Riding the wave of new development in China, Studio SHIFT recently won a competition to design a new landmark in Miyi County. Miyi Tower will sit on the edge of the Anning river as a symbol of the new face of Sichuan provence. The tower’s most striking feature is its whimsical latticework skin, which suffuses the structure with daylight and “evokes the shimmering surface of the river below.” This connection is reinforced by the project’s goal of filtering and transforming the polluted Anning river into a lush landscape of wetlands, lakes, leisure and agricultural areas.

The Miyi Tower itself will be a state-of-the-art community space providing a multitude of educational, entertainment and community programs aimed at promoting the region’s heritage and natural amenities. Ambitiously redefining the term multi-use, the tower will feature “an auditorium, exhibition spaces and restaurants featuring local cuisine on the interior while open-air floors are used as event spaces, gardens and an observation deck. The pairs of lower and upper enclosed spaces are joined by structures which act as light monitors. These light monitors, of which there is a third at the highest level, are aligned to take advantage of different lighting conditions throughout the day. The tower is sheathed in a very porous yet continuous skin that gives the various programs their unified form. As porous building skins are often treated as opaque modules with subtracted holes (i.e. perforated skins) Studio SHIFT deliberately created the inverse.“