French architect Vincent Callebaut has taken civilisation to the oceans. His Lilypad city concept is a floating ecopolis for 50,000 climate refugees — those affected by rising sea levels and climate change. Callebaut includes the amazonia victoria regia flower, the novels of Jules Verne, and the cult movie Howl's Moving Castle among his inspirations. The slow-moving Lilypad is built around three mountains and three marinas, one each for living, work and entertainment, and has an external skin of polyester fibres covered with titanium dioxide to absorb atmospheric pollution.

[via inhabitat]

Aarhus, Denmark's second city, has appointed a consortium of architects including Julien de Smedt, CEBRA, Louis Paillard and SeArch to turn the city's redundant container terminal into a 25,000 square metre housing complex, whose jagged peaks and canyons have earned it the moniker 'the Iceberg'. The unique architectural design allows for natural light to permeate the craggy structures and reach individual apartments.

[via tuvie.com]

Dubai is a city of firsts and superlatives, and UN Studio's Museum of Middle Eastern Modern Art is no exception: it will be the first of its kind in the region, and perhaps the most spectacular in the world. A grand, sweeping structure with smooth, curving lines, it will include an amphitheatre for live performances and cultural festivals, an exhibition hall, smaller museums for local and international art, and a shipyard for traditional dhow builders.

[via yatzer]

Poland and Robert Majkut's latest gift to the movie-going world is Multikino, a breathtaking state-of-the-art cinema. The lush Premiere Hall is dominated by a chandelier and walls of bright crimson. On the top floor, the 35mm Club is bathed in light from an enormous skylight: it showcases 'mod' with smooth white lines and funky egg chairs. If this is a sign of the economic boom from Poland's EU membership, we can't wait to see what's coming soon!

[via designboom]

In creating a designer wind turbine for the home, Philippe Starck has shown that an overtly political design is a risk worth taking. Named 'Democratic Ecology', it completely reinvents the wind turbine concept. Unlike the classic spoke-and-hub design, Starck's is a square frame without a hub, to symbolically focus and control renewable energy. And with the capacity to generate 20-60% of a home's energy needs, it might soon be as commonplace as Starck cutlery and citrus juicers.

[via gizmodo]

Amazing feats of architecture such as Beijing's Olympic Precinct and London's Gherkin building are well-recognised as symbols of economic strength in the information age. Now Mumbai, India has its own take on the theme: the egg. James Law Cybertecture International are creating an office unlike any other, in the shape of an egg: the shape of rebirth, life, and imminent development. Comprised of thirteen floors of office space, the Egg is a trailblazing example of the capacty for modern architecture to change the way we live, with its intelligent greywater filtration system, renewable power system of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, and a health system in the bathrooms to track blood pressure and weight.

[via inhabitat]