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During January 26 to January 29, 2012, the spectacular Ghent Light Festival held in Belgium and showcased several fantastic light art pieces submitted by designer from all over the world. One of those interesting projects is this cathedral made from no less than 55,000 LED lights. The art installation is very huge, eye-catching, especially when it is turned on with all the colorful lights in the evenings. But quite surprisingly, the cathedral, though has used over 55,000 LEDs, consumes only 20Kwatt / h of electricity, thus making it both a charming art piece and energy-saving project as well.

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Once realized that more and more bird are getting injured by skyscrapers in cities, an architecture studio “Stone Design” has decided to build the Urban Aviary, a tall building especially designed for birds that not only offers a house but can help to bring down the death rate. It will be located in Central Park, New York, standing at 1,050,000 square feet. It will let birds build nests outside the building because of the presence of vegetation and food inside the structure. Besides, a strong beam of light will be built to attract the birds so that they can give up other high buildings which may result in hurt to them.

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Climbing up the rock … to live in the Barcelona Rock Hostel designed by Polish architecture firm UGO is one of my goals for the next following years (if the concept will finally come into reality). The proposed building will feature real rocks on its exterior, while coming with fifty rooms, movie theater, spa, cafe, swimming pool, gym, bar and even shops inside. Thus whenever the rock climbers need a rest, they may either check into the Barcelona Rock Hostel or simply spent the night on the “mountain” using special equipment. So do you like it? Hopefully we’ll soon meet there in the Barcelona Rock Hostel.

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The world’s best house for kids seems to have appeared in Japan, designed by LEVEL architects. With an integrated slide, the house not only allows people to travel from one floor to another in a quicker way, but also provides great fun when you’re enjoying the sliding game. But wait, while it seems easy to go downstairs, does that also mean we’ll take more pain in climbing upstairs?  Of course not, actually when you’re sliding down from one side of house, you’ll go through stairs on the other side to get to the higher floors.

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What will the futuristic architecture look like? Japan-based Kisho Kurokawa’s “Nakagin Capsule Tower Building” may offer us some inspireations. Put forward in 1972, the tower building was constructed of 140 individual pods that could be changed and moved freely, thus to create a modular building with full functions. In the designer’s assumption, the 140 pods should get replaced about every 25 years so that the whole building could have a 200 year life span.  To let many more people get in a close touch with the “Nakagin Capsule Tower Building”, Kurokawa recently showcased one pod at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, in which the visitors would find a full-furnished house for temporary living.

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“The Bridge School”, running through an old village in Fujian Province in China to connect the two sides, wins Li Xiaodong this year’s “Aga Khan Awards” due to its special structure and multi functions. Contrast to the old village is full of stone-built houses, “The Bridge School” utilizes modern and frugal steel and bamboo as main materials, giving the building a refreshing and stylish look. Except for serving as a school, the structure also doubles as a public library and a performance space as well.

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Church usually means something grave and quite to me, and I seldom imagined that a church could also be “floating”, with all its components seeming to float in the air. The church is 10 meters high and made of 100 layers and 2000 columns of steel, which create four see-through walls and thus bring the church with a romantic name of “Reading between the Lines”. When viewing in the landscape, the church seems to dissolve in the air. If you look at the landscape from within the church, well, all the surrounding scenery is redefined by abstract lines.

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Shelf House for bookworms is located in Osaka, Japan. Once stepping into the house, you’ll see big and small shelves here and there, such as on the walls, on the stairs, or even integrated with the window. So do you have enough books to fill all these shelves? I don’t, honestly.

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Welcome to the world’s first moving building. The three storey apartment is 40-foot high, weighs 220 tons and measures 9,300 square foot in total. Although the apartment is built with patented steel panels that give the structure the same sturdiness of a cement building, it is actually much lighter than ordinary buildings. It is earthquake resistant too, so the apartment can be used in any places all around the world. At present the owners have installed it in Turku, and the apartment will be moved to a new location when the renting period finishes. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Russian Space Hotel makes common people’s dream of living in space come true. Planned to be opened in the year 2016, this hotel would house seven guests in four cabins and allows guests to view the Earth turning below through large windows. It would quite comfortable to live in such a hotel, as the guests can freely choose their favorite cabins, enjoy different kinds of food and even a bath. Due to all those nice things you may get from the Space Hotel, you’ll need to pay 1 million USD for a 5-day trip. [Read the rest of this entry...]

“CO2 Structure” is a new construction material developed by Japan-based TIS&Partners. Compared with common materials, the “CO2 Structure” hardens more quickly and features 2.5 times the tensile strength of concrete. It is quite simple to produce, taking merely one day to deliver its design strength. Convenient to make, durable to use, and effective to harden, all those feartures have made this “CO2 Structure” the best material for construction. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Is it possible that the little mermaid wouldn’t become bubbles if she had lived in a fantastic house as this one from Octavio Ocampo? I hope so, and I do love the Conch Shell Home very much. It is built of concrete and repurposed materials, featuring a shell shape and pure white color, and moreover bringing you the real feel of sea when you’re walking in or outside of it. Now let’s open you guys to the pictures for more details. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Not everybody loves skateboard but everyone would love the PAS House designed by Gil Le Bon Delapointe and Francois Perrin. It is a perfect house with every space and furniture skateable: the ground becomes the wall, the continuous ceiling forms a tube of a 10ft diameter, and most furniture is integrated in the curve to become part of the skateable house. Really funny, right? We can easily skate in and outside a house with this PAS. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Have you ever experienced a night in concrete pipes? Well, if not, we strongly suggest you have a try and you’ll see it’s not that boring as you may have imagined. But before that you need to get a touch with T3arc’s TuboHotel. It is a mini hotel located in Tepoztlan, Mexico and it was built from recycled concrete pipes. Each room may seem bit of small on the pictures but actually they offer a really cozy living as well as some beautiful panoramic views of the Sierra del Tepozteco. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Buildings in Moscow used to have a long distance from others so you may easily find large space between offices if you’re wandering in that city. But such space between buildings would not exist too long after Za Bor Architects come up with the Parasite office concept. To be finalized in the future, the office building will be built between two buildings without a base on the ground. It is so interesting. More surprising is the office building will have three floors with an accessible roof area as well. Will that be safe enough? No certain answer is offered by now so we may need to wait to see. [Read the rest of this entry...]