Bio-mimicry in Architecture

But on the other side of the Pacific ocean, sits China's answer to Las Vegas, Macau. It is, in many ways, a duplication of its American predecessor. It has its own Venetian, it's own MGM Grand, its own Wynn. But in many respects this Chinese imitation has outgrown the original - literally

He is one of Asia's emerging architects, famous for building stunning, affordable and durable buildings out of bamboo.

Architecture firm RMJM has won a competition to design a landmark tower for Doumen, China, with plans for a 93-metre-high structure covered in scales.

Proposed at the intersection of two rivers in Zhuhai, the Doumen Observation Tower was designed to mimic the movement of water and aquatic life in the coastal city, sometimes known as the Chinese Riviera. The tower's curving form will be clad with 1,400 bent panels, made from perforated aluminium. These will give the structure its scaly appearance, whilst shading the interior from direct sunlight...

Brooklyn-based design studio aprilli has presented prototypical plans for a vertical farm to be built adjacent to the cheonggyecheon stream in downtown Seoul, Korea. The vertical farm, located within the city’s heavily populated central business district, would support local food production while simultaneously contributing to the improvement of environmental quality through water, air filtration and renewable energy output.

China is running out of room for its growing urban population. This amazing design--an entire prefab city that floats on water--could magically create more space.

As China prepares to squeeze in 350 million new urban residents over the new decade, the government will pave 5 billion square meters of new roads and build hundreds of new cities and towns. And as available land space gets smaller and smaller--especially near the bigger metropolitan regions where people really want to live--China may also start building cities on water.

A spiraling, green high-rise designed by Paris-based Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is under construction in Taipei, Taiwan. It will add interest to XinYi District’s existing mixture of buildings which range from LEED Platinum EBOM-rated Taipei 101, the world’s tallest green building, to a traditionally Chinese-styled Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall built in 1972.