London is the home of a structure with an astonishing design which is called Palestra. This building was developed by Alsop Architects and $120 million were necessary to finish the construction. At the beginning, the Palestra was destined to be the home of multiple companies but in the end only two settled there - the London Development Agency and the London Climate Change Agency.

The construction was finished in 2006 but six weeks after the unveiling, one of its component crashed and the wind turbines that were powering the building stopped working properly. The wind turbines are scheduled for replacement in the coming weeks and the designers are looking to implement fuel cell technology in order to power the entire building with renewable energy. I don’t know about you but I fell in love with this glass structure and you might do the same if you check out the gallery below.

Via EcoFuss

This is one of the most interesting structure concept involving green buildings. This concept is called Veg.itecture and is based on vegetation as the primary component of a building. Until now it didn’t get too much attention, but Ken Yeang looks to change this situation. Ken is one of the most active promoters of this architecture and his designs are considered masterpieces.

Most of Ken’s buildings are bioclimatic skyscrapers but the technique is not very simple because the structures need sun alignment, adjustment to the climate conditions throughout the year and to make use of lighting and ventilation.

The skyscrapers look very good with the addition of vegetation and there are some other projects like the Zorlu Ecocity in Turkey. Check out the gallery below for more interesting structures.

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This bridge that is pictured above it helps you cross over the River Shannon and it represents one part of the plans that the University of Limerick have. It was designed by the Wilkinson Eyre Architects, a company with its headquarters in London. The Living Bridge consists of five-spans embankments and the deck’s width varies along the bridge in order to provide resting or public art spaces. The project was completed in November 2007 and it cost about €12 million. You can see the Living Bridge in the gallery below.

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The picture represents the Beijing Xinhua Bookstore, but to be more specific it’s a structure outside China’s bookstore which contains one of the biggest collection of books. We are not sure what they intended to do with the construction but I am sure that many of you tried to climb up the book-stairs when nobody was watching. Instead of trying to reach the heaven by climbing on the structure you should get inside and improve one’s mind.

The architects from Foster&Parners had presented last week at MIPIM, Cannes, a project called Al Raha Beach and the Abu Dhabi World Trade Center being the main building. The Abu Dhabi World Trade Center was designed perfectly for this climate and topography - it provides shade and cooling - what more do you need for the extreme weather?

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