Only fourteen years into the 21st century and already architecture has given us something incredible to celebrate. With the millennium came the birth of sky-soaring, height-defying buildings that have reached further into the sky than we thought possible.

In a study of the grandest skyscrapers in use today, Gear Patrol put together a list of the new age of architecture: the 21 most mystifying and emblematic buildings of the 21st century.

The list encompasses sites from all over the world, in every nation, creivice and corner where modern architecture reigns paramount. It includes: Absolute World, Auckland Art Gallery, Beijing National Stadium, The Blue Planet, BMW Welt, Burj Khalifa, The City of Arts and Sciences, California Academy of Sciences, Disney Concert Hall, Gardens by the Bay, Guangzhou Opera House, Harpa Concert Hall, Maxxi National Museum of 21st Century Art, Metropol Parasol, National Center of the Performing Arts, Norweigan Wild Reindeer Centre Pavilion, Museum of Islamic Art, Parrish Art Museum, Seattle Central Library, The Shard and the Statoil Office Building.