WHEN BJARKE INGELS set out to create the fourth and final skyscraper at the reborn World Trade Center earlier this year, he faced the same dilemma that has burdened every architect who has ventured onto New York’s most hallowed and expensive construction site.

“Jurassic World” debuted with a record-shattering opening weekend, netting nearly half a billion dollars. See how Industrial Light & Magic used motion capture to help design the complex dinosaurs, including the genetically modified Indominus rex.

He's back—this time in a time-traveling standoff. See how Arnold Schwarzenegger faced off against a digitized version of his younger self.

Find out how the visual effects came together for the end of season five on Game of Thrones, including Daenerys' elaborate and cinematic escape with her drogon.

These cars introduced new forms of beauty---many of them clever solutions to vexing technological problems---that lived on for years and even decades.

The second installment of “The Maze Runner” takes place in a mythical post-apocalyptic city. Find out how Weta Digital took an unusual approach to creating the vast, ruined landscape by building the entire city first, then destroying it.

Cities used to grow (more or less) by accident. Today cities develop more intentionally. From Shanghai to Nairobi, designers, architects, and planners are using better materials, smart science, and big data to make cities better—and even a little magical.

Visual effects companies Framestore and MPC were tasked with creating the red planet in “The Martian.” From realistic landscape shots of Mars to simulated gravity differences, see how it all came together with a shorter-than-usual timeframe for post-production.

Sure, they’re pesky critters but termites can teach architects a thing or two when it comes building design. When creating giant mounds the insects build channels within them to help with ventilation. See how architects are attempting to replicate that process to create better heating and air conditioning systems in giant skyscrapers.

Dan Meis explains the challenges of building an iconic building in the back yard of Rome's Colosseum, and how the enduring life of the classic arena should provide a lesson for the future of stadium design.

Find out how Pixar raised the CGI bar for ultra-realistic environments and landscapes in “The Good Dinosaur.”

For companies and consumers, 2015 was a big year for practical design. Wired tells you why.

Mike Seymour goes behind the visual effects that earned “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” an Oscar nod. See how Industrial Light & Magic crafted complex action sequences, detailed environments, and realistic characters with the help of advanced motion-capture technology and performances from actors like Lupita Nyong’o.

Amazon Studios’ “The Man in the High Castle” take places in an alternate history, set in a post-WWII world where the Axis powers ended up victorious. To create the look of a United States run by Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany, Zoic Studios was tasked with creating difficult visual effects and environment work. Find out how they did it.

And one was nearly 7 feet tall.

We go behind the scenes to show you how visual effects company Double Negative created the dark energy Zero Matter in ABC's "Agent Carter."

Jeff Nichols at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

The Oculus Rift is now shipping. Four years of intense work led to this moment. WIRED got to look at some of the early prototypes that would have never made it to market.

You probably don’t give your lamp much thought when you switch it on. But the San Francisco design firm Box Clever recently spent two years thinking about a lamp perfect for designers.

In the 1970's a group of California hippies built a new technology that changed the world. Computers? Nope. They were building the earliest commercial mountain bikes.

Mike Seymour goes behind the visual effects in Central Intelligence used to de-age The Rock and Kevin Hart into high school, teenaged versions of themselves. Weta digital puts the The Rock’s face onto Vine star Sione’s body for an amazing locker room shower dance scene you won’t want to miss.

Mike Seymour sits down with "Independence Day: Resurgence" director Roland Emmerich and discusses the astonishing visual effects used in his newest picture, as well as the revolutionary new N-Cam system.

In a weed market flooded with so many edible options, attention to detail and clever design is paramount. Défoncé Chocolatier has created some of the most user friendly cannabis-infused chocolate bars, that look beautiful too.

Design FX dives into the incredible special effects of Star Trek Beyond. From the digital construction of the Starship Enterprise all the way down to the extraterrestrials themselves, Mike Seymour takes us into warp drive as he breaks this successful franchise down to its DNA.

Design FX dives into the incredible special effects of Pete's Dragon. How were the team at WETA able to make Elliot (the titular dragon) appear invisible? Mike Seymour breaks down the techniques used to accomplish this spectacular effect.

Design FX dives into the incredible special effects of BBC America's Orphan Black. Mike Seymour breaks down how the team at Intelligent Creatures and Emmy Award nominated actress Tatiana Maslany work together to create convincing clones; with a combination of visual effects, rotoscoping, and incredible acting ability.

Subway commuters traveling between San Francisco and Oakland got tired of looking each other in eye. So, the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency redesigned their train cars to give commuters more space.

Achates Power is reviving the century-old opposed piston layout to make gas-powered cars more efficient.

Oculus Touch controllers are here – finally putting our hands in the same virtual space as our heads. Touch was years and scores of prototypes in the making. Watch to see how the form and function came together.

The Harry Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, finds Eddie Redmayne performing a mating ritual in front of a massive computer-generated beast. Using a combination of puppets and CGI, a slew of effects houses were able to craft convincing monsters to populate J.K. Rowling's imaginative world.

Designers tackled some of the most pressing issues of our time in 2016. From equality to climate change, here are WIRED's most inspirational design stories of the year.

In a world where cars drive themselves, the steering wheel must go way beyond 10 and 2.

Industrial Light & Magic used "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" to push the boundaries of visual effects, especially in the area of digital humans. Design FX dives into the incredible techniques used to recreate one of the Star Wars universe's most terrifying figures, Grand Moff Tarkin.

The Everfly APSARA drone is an origami-like disposable drone made to deliver essential supplies in a humanitarian or disaster situation.

'The Lego Batman Movie' uses an impressive style of animation that replicates the look of real lego bricks. These digital bricks abide by all the rules of real Lego bricks, so they cannot bend or move in an impractical way. Mike Seymour breaks down a few of the most remarkable scenes, where numerous complex techniques were used to create a believable image.

King Kong films hold a special distinction in the annals of cinema. Each new entry in the series often sets a new high-water mark for movie making special effects. Mike Seymour breaks down some the techniques used in 'Kong: Skull Island,' one of the most visually impressive films to date.

Mike Seymour breaks down the visual effects from the film 'Ghost in the Shell' starring Scarlett Johansson.

For WIRED's November cover about love in the time of robots the magazine turned to Elastic, the design firm behind the opening credits for Game of Thrones, True Detective, and Westworld.

Explore the tech moments that redefine what's possible with Designer Thomas Meyerhoffer, from the birth of the Internet to tomorrow's cutting-edge innovations.

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Callaway. How is a Nobel Prize winning material changing the paradigms of golf ball design?

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie spoke with WIRED’s Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson as part of WIRED25, WIRED’s 25th anniversary celebration in San Francisco.

Chuck Hoberman's eponymous sphere is one of the best-loved toys of the last quarter century. But it's only one example of his incredible work in transformable design. From adaptive nanotech to flexible building materials, Hoberman has created surprising and inventive designs at every scale.

BRANDED CONTENT | Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with American Institute of Architects | How can design transform emergency rooms from one of the most stressful and chaotic places into a place of healing? Dr. Bon Ku and architect Billie Faircloth, AIA, break down the science behind designing a better work environment for hospitals.

BRANDED CONTENT | Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with American Institute of Architects | How can architectural design save cities and prepare us for the future under the threat of climate change? AIA architects in Boston discuss how they are working with community leaders and scientists to build more resilient cities.

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Santner, Thomas J., 1947- author

Montgomery, Douglas C., author

Dharmaraja, Selvamuthu, 1972- author