When asked to design a building for a vacant lot in downtown Manhattan, the designers at Work AC went hog wild. They’re local foodies, you see, which means that they try to avoid buying produce that’s traveled from far-flung places like New Zealand. What better way to eat local than to bring the farm to the city? Their design incorporates residential apartments that are topped by strips of farm land and watered using rain water stored in the tanks on the building’s roof. The staircase-shaped structure is to be propped up by elegant sculptures. The people underneath the structure seem to be shopping at a green market (how appropriate!). And during the years when some of the fields need to lie fallow, they can be used for sportive activities like golfing.

Yes, the design is a bit unrealistic, but we like it a lot better than this alternate proposal for the same space. We hope architecture firms like Work AC keep thinking green, but that they’ll come up with some more realistic plans as well.

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The Guggenheim Museum has established a tradition of building structures to house and display art that are themselves works of art. Following the lead of the original Guggenheim in New York designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the stunning Bilbao, Spain building by Frank Gehry, this latest design is no exception. Created by 2004 Pritzker prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, this gorgeous metallic aircraft-like structure with crazy-shaped windows will be the new Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania.

If that exterior isn’t mind-bending enough, the inside promises to be equally innovative. The architect says the interior is a “canyon-like air space,” with areas designed for people to congregate, with the structure allowing for “architecturally refined communication and circulation spaces.” This is what Hadid calls a “future architectural language,” and his her words are speaking to us with profound fluency.

So this is the kind of mind-boggling work it takes to win a Pritzker. This new museum and cultural center might open as soon as 2011.

The three 29m-diameter turbine blades on Bahrain’s iconic landmark are the first in the world to be integrated on such a scale into a commercial development and are forecast to provide the equivalent of 11-15% of the power for the two towers when fully operational. The successful rotation of the blades involved collaboration between Atkins architects and engineers and turbine specialists Norwin, who were in Bahrain for the milestone event. “Having all three turbines spinning simultaneously represents an historic achievement for this landmark project and Atkins is excited to have been a major player in turning the original idea into reality” says Simha LytheRao Senior Project Manager for Atkins in Bahrain.” The use of established technologies, including type-tested turbines with minimal modifications, ensured that the additional cost incurred by incorporating turbines into the project was reduced to around 3.5% of the overall project value, making it not only an environmentally responsible but also a financially viable venture.” The BWTC design blends maritime aesthetics with the functionality of traditional wind-towers. The visually striking sail-shaped towers form a commanding silhouette on the skyline of Manama, and serve to channel the strong on-shore winds directly onto the three spinning blades. .,….

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How tall is too tall? I guess we’ll know once one of these crazy building concepts ends up getting built — if it subsequently falls down, that is.

The Ultima Tower is a conceptualization by designer Eugene Tsui and it’s built around alleviating city congestion in this increasingly congested world. It’s debatably attractive shape is inspired by termite mounds and, instead of trying to brave the winds as your ordinary block-like skyscraper, it slopes gracefully to a point from a 7,000-foot-in-diameter base. The Ultima Tower is designed to provide good ol’ self contained arcology living, takes advantage of renewable wind energy, has its own water supply at its base and throughout the tower, and uses reflecting mirrors to boost the amount of natural light throughout.

I wonder what construction firms think when they look at concepts like this? At least Tsui made it aerodynamic — it’d be a pain if it created some drag against the Earth’s orbit.

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