sustainable design

What if a day at the opera could double as a day in the park? That's the idea behind this ambitious Bjarke Ingels Group project, which blends a heavily landscaped park with a state-of-the-art venue for opera and ballet.

You could be forgiven for thinking this extraordinary building was dreamed up as an alien megastructure for a sci-fi movie. However, the Yidan Center, by Zaha Hadid Architects, is indeed very much real and is currently nearing completion.

They may be better known for stir-fries than supercomputing, but shiitake mushrooms have now been harnessed to function as living processors, storing and recalling data like a semiconductor chip but with almost no environmental footprint.

BIG's recently completed California college building showcases the firm's knack for producing eye-catching architecture. The project is made up of stacked concrete rectangular forms that are topped by a large solar panel array.

Most modern timber towers feature a concrete core for stability. However, the Fyrtornet office tower rises to an impressive height of 169 ft without the need for concrete, highlighting the sustainable possibilities of timber construction.

A new innovation is aiming to redefine earbuds – in function and in form. The PIN, wireless AI buds are sustainably handcrafted from real wood and engineered for sound, include real-time translation and a sleep aid – and they start at only US$134.

This eye-catching tower offers a welcome change from glass and concrete high-rise buildings with its lush exterior. It hosts hundreds of trees and tens of thousands of plants, making life more pleasant for those who live inside.

Scientists have hacked the meaning of a "light meal," creating microlasers that use natural products to emit beams through food. They're also completely safe to eat. It's the first demonstration of laser emission from an entirely edible system.

Dethleffs is gearing up to show one of its most innovative, ground-up green RV designs yet. The new E.Home Eco concept has a sustainable construction atop an electric Ford chassis, featuring a flax composite, corn panels and wool fabric.

Using intricate geometry found in nature and refined through aerospace and biomedical design, scientists have now 3D-printed these forms into concrete to boost strength and capture carbon – creating a scalable material that benefits people and planet.

The Fairphone Gen 6 is here, and in addition to being repairable at home, it packs a neat little trick. A bright lime green physical slider instantly activates a dumbphone mode so you can focus on more important things than doomscrolling.

A team made up of some of architecture's biggest names has completed a new energy efficient airport. The building is defined by a sculpted ceiling that shades passengers and creates a pleasant dappled lighting effect.