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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Some architectural wonders are changing the landscapes of cities. These structures evoke extreme reactions among people. While some may find them beautiful, other may downright reject them.
For example, The Shard - one of the buildings in the list, faced huge opposition in London. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister had to set up an inquiry to look into the developers’ plans.
Take a look at 15 futuristic buildings and tell us what you think.
Source: Travel+Leisure
Gardens by the Bay
City: Singapore
Country: Singapore
This fantasy land is a park spanning 250 acres in central Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. It has three gardens - Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden.
Gardens by the Bay is an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a "Garden City" to a "City in a Garden".
The garden also has Supertrees (seen in the picture above). These are tree-like structures that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Palazzo Lombardia
City: Milan
Country: Italy
This award-winning building is designed by the architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. The building utilises a broad array of innovative green design. Some of these include green roofs and active climate walls.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
City: Dallas
Country: US
It is a natural history and science museum located in Texas. Designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the building was conceived as a large cube floating over a landscaped plinth (or base) and is designed to inspire awareness of science through an immersive and interactive environment, according to Wikipedia.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Galaxy Soho Building
City: Beijing
Country: China
Designed by Pritzker Prize winning Zaha Hadid Architect, Galaxy Soho Buildings is an eco-friendly buildings. The design draws inspiration from Chinese courtyard and ancient Chinese terraced rice field. The green design helps in conserving energy, water and also reduces emission of harmful gases.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
The Crystal
City: London
Country: UK
The Crystal is a building on Royal Victoria Dock in east London that contains a permanent exhibition about sustainable development. It is owned and operated by Siemens.
It is an all-electric building that uses solar power and a ground source heat pump to generate its own energy.
The building incorporates rainwater harvesting, black water treatment, solar heating and automated building management systems. The design of the building’s structure provides additional insulation and takes energy efficiency to a new level, according to owner’s website.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Burj Khalifa
City: Dubai
Country: UAE
One of the tallest buildings in the world, Burj Khalifa includes 30,000 homes, nine hotels, Dubai Mall, and a man-made lake.
The Burj Khalifa uses the bundled tube design, invented by Fazlur Rahman Khan. Proportionally, the design uses half the amount of steel used in the construction of the Empire State Building thanks to the tubular system, according to Wikipedia.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
W57 Pyramid
City: New York
Country: US
The triangular structure is a hybrid between a European perimeter block and a traditional Manhattan high-rise. Some of the tenants in the building include Johnson and Johnson, and Hugo Boss.
The building is designed by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels assisted by Soren Grunert and the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
The National Museum of Qatar
City: Doha
Country: Qatar
The original building will be replaced with a new one designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It is expected to reopen in December 2014. The new design will reflect the new era of Qatar prosperity, the country’s prominent role in the Persian Gulf area and its world standing.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Spaceport America
State: New Mexico
Country: US
It’s world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, which is site for launching or receiving spacecraft.
Tenants of this spaceport include Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, UP Aerospace, and Armadillo Aerospace.
About 12 suborbital missions have been successfully launched from Spaceport America so far.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Hermitage Plaza
City: Paris
Country: France
Hermitage Plaza is an innovative mixed-use project at the entrance of Europe’s biggest central business district - La Defense in Paris, and is situated across the Seine River from the residential district of Neuilly-Paris, which will bring together programs of luxury serviced apartments, a 5-Star palace hotel, class-A offices, high-end retail, and the public and entertainment space, according to Wikipedia.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Saadiyat Cultural District
Place: Saadiyat Island
Country: UAE
A new ‘city’ is coming up on an island close to Abu Dhabi called Saadiyat. On this island, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is constructing a mixed commercial, residential, and leisure project and it is expected to be completed in 2020.
The island will house a Louvre museum, a Guggenheim Museum, and a world-class performing arts centre and a concert hall. Each of these buildings have a futuristic design too.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Bullitt Center
City: Seattle
Country: US
The Bullitt Center is a commercial office near Capitol Hill in Washington. It is designed to be the greenest commercial building in the world, qualifying for classification as a "Living Building" by the International Living Future Institute, according to Wikipedia.
The building is designed to have a life span of 250 years. Being a green building, it is energy and carbon neutral. To promote eco-friendliness, the building does not have any parking spaces – only has bike racks.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Absolute World Towers
City: Mississauga
Country: Canada
Absolute World Towers is skyscraper that had residential condominiums. Dubbed the ‘Marilyn Monroe’ building for its curves, the building has won many awards for in design and engineering.
The structural design is done by Sigmund Soudack & Associates Inc and it twists 209 degrees from the base to the top. The architects for the projects are Burka Architects and MAD Studio.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
Al Bahar Towers
City: Abu Dhabi
Country: UAE
The building is headquarters of Abu Dhabi Investment Council. It’s an eco-friendly building with many innovative features. The building has a unique and dynamic shading system that opens and closes as the sun moves around the towers.
Such innovative design features have resulted in a 40 per cent saving in carbon emissions for the towers.
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World's coolest futuristic buildings
The Shards (The London Bridge Tower)
City: London
Country: UK
The tallest building in the European Union, The Shards is an 87-storey skyscraper that is part of London Bridge Quarter development. The property is jointly owned by Sellar Property and the State of Qatar.
Architect Renzo Piano designed The Shards as a spire-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames. He was inspired by the railway lines next to the site, the London spires depicted by the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto, and the masts of sailing ships, according to Wikipedia.