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A new paint made of carbon nanotubes and fly ash is announced as a cheaper and easier way to monitor facilities like bridges, mines and wind turbines. The development is put forward by researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who explain that the nanotubes’ conductivity will change if they get bent, and wireless transmitters placed throughout the structure would receive the data and resend it to the system, using the conductivity change as a sign of defect in the structure to alert people of possible dangers. Also, the paint is said to be cheap too, allowing it to be used in a wide range of buildings, bridges, coal mines, etc.

Located in Dresden, Germany, the small colorful house is built with some funnels on the wall and they’ll create charming (really?!) musical sound whenever the rain comes.  Due to that interesting and unique idea, the wall is also one of the most enjoyable attractions in Dresden’s student district in the new town.

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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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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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You don’t have a Windows Phone?! Hmm, apparently the Microsoft Company thought you should have been using their products and they unveiled a 55 feet high Windows Phone at NYC’s Herald Square recently, to let you know and use their products. It is announced “the World’s Largest Windows Phone”, comprised of control rooms, display stages and decorative tiles too. Whenever the phone is demonstrating its perfect functions such as music or game, several people would then appear on the stage and offer a live show. Really impressive, how I wish I could be there!

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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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Phill, completed by Romanian designers Nuca Studio in Bucharest, is a meeting place for the entire family. It has a playground, a multipurpose room and a small café at the ground floor, and the restaurant on the upper floor. Thus before dinners, kids can play games and parents can have some coffee on the ground floor, without needing to wait through a boring time. The house is delicately decorated with bright colors and animated patterns, which make Phill also a nice place for people to relax themselves.

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Kid’s Republic is colorful bookstore built in Beijing, China for children. From the ground floor to the upper floors, a rainbow-shaped carpet is running everywhere, connecting all the rooms together. Inside the building, there is also a relaxing reading environment as well as hundreds of books for kids to enjoy their happiness of an entertaining childhood. I wish I could ever go the bookstore, but pity it’s far away in China.

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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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Sleepbox is a mini building that allows you to sleep comfortably and conveniently. It was originally a conceptualized design put forward in 2009 and now has been installed at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, for travelers to rent and sleep for hours during their transfers at airports. [Read the rest of this entry...]

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...]

These attractive houses are not real ones for you to live in, but actually playgrounds especially made for kids. Each house has its one theme, such as fire stations, castles, schools and so on. When step into these houses, you’ll also see furniture and decorations that go with the house’s theme. To get a Fun House, to get your fun in the house. [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...]