Office

Form following function is an important principle in architecture, but few buildings lean into the idea quite as hard as this office for a pipe distribution company which appears to be almost totally made from metal pipes.

Our modern lifestyles feature a lot of sitting, and while standing desks can be healthier options, they have their own problems. The new Ergo Desk combines both and adds a third option: a reclining desk, to ease chronic back pain.

The Shard has stood as both the UK and Western Europe's tallest skyscraper for over a decade, however, an ambitious new supertall named 1 Undershaft has been given the thumbs-up in London that will match its height.

High-profile architecture studio BIG has designed its own headquarters in Denmark. Featuring a concrete exterior that's wrapped in a large spiraling staircase, the building also boasts impressive energy efficiency.

The Edge Desk incorporates an adjustable desk and kneeling chair, weighs 25 pounds (11.3 kg), can be rolled or carried, and it folds small and flat. You now really can work from anywhere.

Bringing to mind a Helter Skelter with its unusual spiraling exterior, the Star, Hollywood is a new office tower by Foster + Partners that will be wrapped in ascending gardens, providing generous outdoor spaces for workers inside.

When it needed a new New York City HQ, Google didn't start from scratch, but instead transformed a 1930s rail terminal into a high-tech office building, saving the equivalent CO2 of taking 17,000 cars off the streets for a year.

Zaha Hadid Architects has completed work on a new mixed-use office in the Czech Republic. The project incorporates significant energy efficient features and is defined by a sweeping facade that's made up of shading fins.

PAU recently completed an ambitious renovation of Brooklyn's 19th century Domino Sugar Refinery. The firm retained the main brick shell of the historic building and inserted an all-new modern and energy efficient glass office building inside.

The Japanese have a history of producing outside-the-box ideas to help people grab a few z's, but even for that part of the world the Giraffenap is an oddity. It allows office workers to literally sleep on the job in an upright standing position.

Over the years, tiny houses have been used for everything from a wedding chapel to a children's playroom. The Browny, by Baluchon, is another example of their versatility and squeezes in a home office, an area for exercising, and a guest bedroom.

MVRDV has revealed plans for three new office skyscrapers in Chengdu, China. The project will incorporate significant energy efficient design and will also honor the area's roots by replicating a village that previously stood on the site.