Via EXurban’s photostream.

Via adamned.art’s photostream.

Nightclubs designed by Alexa Nice:

“Cloudland’s interior design almost defies description. [It's] like a film set for a futuristic Garden of Eden, operating as an architecturally brave bar, restaurant and function space. Patrons are visually stunned by: 5,000 plants climbing and sprawling over a 14-metre interior wall; a 10-metre waterfall; a solid hand-carved ‘China white’ marble bar; and a glass bar made from 19,000 glass balls threaded by hand.”

Gorgeous! Words and photos from core77.com

The Ryugyong Hotel was named after the historic name for Pyongyang, “capital of willows”.. more like a pyramid that would be every skater’s dream, it towers over the city of Sojang-dong; the whole country in fact.

Construction of the ambitious project began in 1987.. went on for five years but ceased due to lack of funds, electricity and building materials. It was abandoned for 16 years, but construction resumed in 2008 and the hotel is now being readied to open its doors in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of Kim II Sung’s birth. With 360,000 sq m (3,900,000 sq ft) of floor space and 105 stories, it would be the world’s tallest hotel. It is currently the world’s 28th tallest building.

Just one of The Tallest Abandoned Structures on Earth.

From Gregory Bastien’s flickr stream, my favorite version of the shot.

London, England.. soon to be home to a city within a city, thanks to The Shard.

As Inhabitat describe it:

The 72-storey building in the London Bridge Quarter will contain premium office space, a world-class hotel, luxury residences, a spa, restaurants & cafes, retail space and a 15-storey public viewing gallery. On the ground level, public piazza, restaurants and cafes will be open to the public with places to rest and changing art installations. Access to public transportation via bus line, train and underground will be directly on site.

How very pretty and science-fictional is that cityscape?  And for once this isn’t design-pr0n, they’ve actually started construction on it.  Of course, whether they finish it is another thing entirely.  Worst case, future-London gets a 72-storey squelette.

Beautiful photos of the Osarizama Mine, taken by Michael John Grist. Here’s a video given a close up view:

Thanks to VertigoJones for the link!

Heaven of Delight, a fantastic ceiling art created in four months using 1.6 million beetle shells:

The beetles:

The patterns:

The ceiling:

From makezine.com, via killerdirectory.com. with photos from angelos.be.

Not the train station at Heavenside, but:

Via adamned.art’s photostream.

Far from a Apocalypse Bunker, a Smithsonian employee builds a tunnel structure beneath his house in the 1930s as a way to relax his eyes from hours staring through the microscope. Via oobject.com

Thanks to LBA for the link!

Via imgfave.com.

Via EXurban’s photostream .

From LATimes:

Today, construction officially began on the cultural complex on the Persian Gulf city-state’s Saadiyat Island. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, presided over the ceremony.

Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the civic area will span 260,000 square feet and comprise  pavilions, plazas, canals and alleyways. (About 65,000 square feet will be dedicated to exhibitions.) A dome 590 feet in diameter will hover over much of the complex.

thanks for the tip-off b1ndychld!

Showcasing an abandoned colliery:

These cages are called Kaue. It was used by the miners to put their clothes, shoes and private belongings in. They could lever the cage by a chain, and lock it. Each chain had its unique number, counting up to 4700 and more. Gives you an idea of the size of this place.

Impressive and surreal scenery. I’ve never seen anything like it before.

Words and picture via suspiciousminds flickrstream.

Not designed to be built, but interesting to look at:

Intentionally or not, it’s a fitting name–”Refusion”–for a winning example of a futuristic homesteading concept based on refusal: refusal to be constrained by established governments or social mores or even by the fundamental desire for solid ground underfoot.

People’s-choice award winner in a design competition for “seasteads”–oil rig-like, sovereign settlements in international waters–this proposed research facility by a group of Las Vegas-based 3-D artists includes “a number of environmental systems, such as greenhouses and renewable energy sources, which would enable absolute independence,” according to a Team 3DA statement. “The aesthetic that emerged from this realization became influenced by a mixture of organic and mechanical systems operating in a symbiotic relationship.”

Photo and words via nationalgeographic.com.

Via Veronika von Volkova‘s flickr stream.

Via imgfave.com.

From Inhabitat:

To cope with the growing need for green urban space, San Francisco-based designer Joanna Borek-Clement has envisioned these eye-popping Sky-Terra skyscrapers – not just a single building, but a network of interconnected towers that are inspired by the shape of neuron cells. This skyscraper superstructure provides a new city layer – one covered in public parks, amphitheaters, fields, and public pools and bathhouses.

or as he subtitles this talk “the past and future of practical city magic”.

A fascinating look at how architects can be be considered software engineers and user interaction designers. And how we’re making cities a close to magical place.

thanks to Cat Vincent for the tip-off!