sustainable design

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has previously designed some big buildings, including the world's tallest, but now it's creating a massive waterfront neighborhood with a supertall skyscraper inspired by the Fresnel Lens of a lighthouse at its heart.

Construction has begun a new heart hospital in Egypt by Foster + Partners. The Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre is designed to help speed up the healing process by offering patients a lush landscape to recover in.

Visitors to McDonald's new restaurant in Walt Disney World Resort will find themselves ordering their Big Mac in an impressively green building that generates its own power. It also features green wall areas and natural ventilation.

With over 1,000 trees and 20,000 plants, the Urban Forest is hailed as one of the world's most densely-forested greenery-covered buildings by Koichi Takada Architects. It will include sustainable technology like solar power and rainwater collection.

After focusing on speed with the launch of the Leisure 28 Electric in March, Rand has opted to take things a little easier for its latest model. The Mana 23 offers displacement cruising for 10 passengers at 5 knots for up to 100 nautical miles.

This Snøhetta-designed office already features greenery on its exterior, but over time the plants will continue to grow and envelop it. The building's grid-based energy use is minimized with a rainwater collection system and solar panels too.

BIG has conceived one of its most ambitious projects to date. It envisions building three artificial islands in Malaysia that host housing, business and leisure facilities, and run using sustainable technology like solar power and wind turbines.

The Thammasat University Rooftop Farm transforms a previously unused rooftop area into an organic farm. The project incorporates solar power and rainwater collection, and is used to teach sustainable farming techniques.

SOM has been chosen, with local architect Fender Katsalidis, to design a pair of skyscrapers in Sydney's Central Business District. The AUD 2.5 billion scheme will feature high-tech facades that help ventilate the towers' interiors.

From supertall skyscrapers to private homes, we've reported on a lot of architecture projects that incorporate trees and plants on their facade lately. With this in mind, let's take a look at some of our favorite greenery-covered buildings.

Zaha Hadid Architects has only ever created one house ... until now. The firm has is planning an island community of sustainable timber houses that will offer would-be homeowners lots of choice over the size and style of their home.

The 2019 World Building of the Year winner Mecanoo is leading a team that's creating a new tower in Amsterdam. Featuring an interesting stepped form and finished in brick, it will also incorporate greenery, solar panels and rainwater collection.