For some reason, the number of floors seems way more excessive to me when 8 of them are underground. Makes it seem like some kind of bond villain hideout.

These are the figures I found on wiki before I posted that comparison:-

On a related map, London was shown as pretty much everything inside the M25, but yeah, figures vary a lot depending on where you define the boundary.

^ Yes, it seems excessive, but that's what wiki says. I count, at its highest, ten floors above ground, and of course the bit below ground is presumably much smaller in floor area. Wiki mentions an anti nuclear bunker with conc walls 1.5m thick, so yes, a classic Bond villain hideout!

Vincent Callebaut has some amazing designs.. I'm not sure how many have been realized.

TAO ZHU YIN YUAN proj Vincent Callebaut

https://images.adsttc.com/media/imag...jpg?1480100333

Those apartments kind of remind me of the turning torso in Malmö

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...ning-torso.jpg


Anyway,other architecture greats. I always liked the moorish palaces of Southern Spain because of how they integrate nature and geometry. I mean, they are so detail rich.

Alcazar in Seville, Spain
https://devoursevillefoodtours.com/w...-web-size.jpeg

The Alhambra, Granda

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/w...g/p05d1gkg.jpg
(The neat thing about this place is that there is a Parador in the Alhambra. A Parador is a state hotel where you can stay for the night. I know that Washington Irving stayed there (the guy who wrote the "Headless Horseman" tale).

And , for another area of the world:
The Giger bar in Switzerland (for those Alien fans)
http://www.hrgiger.com/images/gigerb...yeres_0159.jpg

It's all in the details.

I think you mean Moopish, not Moorish.

^ That's an elegant example of greener architecture than we've seen so far. Here's something from Japan - very worthy because of all the "fruit and veg" on it, but not as eye-catching as VC's tower:-

https://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blo...CROS-Japan.jpghttps://3clcll19jy8r2en3h8244ra3-wpe...-Side-View.jpg
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@Lilja: yes the detail on the Alhambra is extraordinary, but the Giger Bar is not a place I'd like to stay in for long. :eek:

Here's some more detail from the small building I mentioned in post #21 :-

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting...ecture/14b.jpg.....https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...k_-_453930.jpg

https://www.animalpolitico.com/wp-co...68-960x500.png

^ My photo is of the Pedregal Artz shopping mall in Mexico City, a building which is not remakable of itself. After all, to put a slanting face on a shoebox and stack a few of them together is quite a common design idea these days - I think there's a museum in Liverpool that's similar. One thing we can reasonably expect of a building, however, is that it stays up, or to use the industry's prefered phrase, "It maintains its structural integrity." Yesterday, part of the Predregal Artz mall failed that test! As no one was hurt in this completely unprovoked collapse, I think we are entitled to laugh with a free conscience:-

I just heard about this on the radio today. I might have to make a trip out there.

Chicago Architecture Center opens August 31*·*Chicago Architecture Center - CAC

^ Wow! I bet that would be interesting - especially to see Chicago itself. Have u been there, Plankton? As I'm sure you know it was "the birthplace of the skyscraper." Skyscrapers were a great solution to the problem of putting big office buildings on small sites, but when you have the luxury of space, there's a another solution too:-