Then I come across this design for the 600m high Dragonfly Vertical Farm (more pics), a skyscraper for animals and agricultural production in New York City.

Now, c'mon. Isn't it just a little bit big? I mean, how many cows and pigs does one skyscraper need?

And as for a dragonfly, I think it looks a tad more like a windsurfer thingummy. Imagine that, Animal Farm-style the livestock launch plans for world domination and set sail to the high seas to rule us all.

Vincent Callebaut Architects is responsible for it and they say it would also include public spaces, a marina and markets if built. I'm thinking not...

But Vancouver - 'The World's Best City to Live in' (as judged by the Economic Intelligence Unit) - is hoping to change that.

Turbinomic is designed to make the most of wind turbulence around it, by allowing the wind to drive circular belt turbines incorporated into the building's skin.

These turbines are placed horizontally between each floor to generate power for the structure. They are independent and can be activated by wind from any direction.

Elliott calls it 'architecture that works, rather than being static and energy absorbing/consuming'.

Okay so there are no actual plans to build the thing and detractors have suggested construction costs would probably outweigh energy savings.

But, considering the global economic crisis is such that some people have started calling it the GEC - presumably they're too busy trying to keep their jobs to use the expanded version - why not rejoice in something a bit different and daring.

Lift that GEC depression architects! It's not like you have much else to do anyway, right? :)

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail was apparently smacked with a bamboo stick before being ordered out of the slum home he shares with his family in Bandra East.

The authorities claimed the slum was located on land owned by the government.

Young Azharuddin, who played a younger version of one of the main characters in the Oscar-winning film, was asleep when the demolition crew moved in.

His house was just a shanty made of plastic placed over bamboo sticks. 

His mother Shamim Ismail told the BBC: 'Our house has been broken down by officials. We have not been given any alternate accommodation. Earlier the authorities had said they would give us a house. But I don't think that will happen anymore.'

The boy's family, as well as co-star Rubina Ali - who recently starred in a Schweppes commercial with Nicole Kidman - were told they would be given accommodation by a local housing authority.

A decision on this is still pending.

Space at 1 Bligh Street in the Aussie capital is a sleek elliptical structure that will feature uninterrupted views of Sydney's famous harbour from a rooftop garden.

Up to 60% of the office block's floor space is situated within six metres of the facade and an atrium, giving lucky workers some of the world's best water views.

Mega-lawyers Clayton Utz have signed on as anchor tenants and will move in when diversified trust Dexus and builder Grocon finish construction in mid-2011.

With the views Utz employees are likely to enjoy, I'm predicting a profit loss for the lawyers in about 2012.

The building is big news down under - it will include the first double skin glass facade on a high rise in the country and represents a return to form for Sydney.

Since the 2000 Olympics, the city has seen construction decline rapidly due to a lack of space. This scheme found legs when Dexus completed years of consolidation on site.

The building has been designed by Architectus in conjunction with Germany's Ingenhoven Architects.

Guaranty Bank acquired the 16 properties through foreclosure and was facing a US$1m bill to finish them ready for sale. In comparison, demolition cost only $100,000.

The bank brought in the wreckers last week. It had faced fines from the local government over the development because squatters and vandals had taken over the half-finished homes, leaving behind graffiti and drug paraphernalia. 

The subdivision project commenced in September 2007, but building ground to a halt in mid-2008. The bank took possession in August.

The project developer had hoped to sell the homes, of which four were completely finished, for more than $300,000. But house prices in the San Bernardino County, where the homes are located, fell dramatically - 60% from a peak in 2006.

Although demolition is not yet a common sight in California, the LA Times reports that abandoned developments are - 250 developments totaling almost 10,000 homes have been halted.

 

 

A number of spectacular Polish high-rise projects have hit the skids as the global economic crisis moves to infect yet another nation.

Poland's most high profile scheme, Lilium Tower (pictured) - designed by Zaha Hadid - is on hold.

The country's tallest residential tower - the 258m Skytower planned for Wroclaw - was put on hold in November last year.

And it seems the PR office of Orco Property Group is the only firm getting any work on the Zlota 44 project, a residential tower designed by Daniel Libeskind, the architect behind the World Trade Centre memorial. People on the ground say construction has stopped, which the spin doctors have denied. 

Real estate market analysts claim some of the schemes on hold were miscalcuated from the get-go and the financial crisis just made those boo-boos worse.

One real estate consultant said there was never a great demand for residential projects in Poland, but there was still plenty of opportunity for growth in office and hotel construction.

Hot tip: I hear one of the few places untouched by the financial crisis is India. Might be time to leave those Brick Lane curries for the real thing.

Living atop the smog of Bangkok in a luxury highrise sounds more like the booby prize of a life spent getting rich.

But the architects behind the city's newest residential tower, The Met, have designed the building with specific ventilation levels for its residents.

The 228m tower, which has almost completed construction, is made up of three slender vertical columns connected together by eight skybridges with communal gardens.

WOHA Limited + Tandem Architects say this will give residents a break from the city's notoriously smoggy atmosphere.

The luxury building, which will offer residents the tallest living spaces in the city, features penthouses with their own infinity pools.

You can track its construction online using the Met's own time-lapse photography.

Prosecutors in Sicily, Italy, have opened a major investigation into wind farms on the small island where officials, entrepreneurs and crime gangs are suspected of collusion in their construction.

The EU and Italian government heavily subsidise the construction of alternative-energy facilities, which has turned the industry into an attractive market for organised crime.

According to prosecutor Roberto Scarpinato, a few wind farms on the island that broke down because of dodgy construction still got subsidies.

'This is the amazing thing - developers got public money to build wind farms that did not produce electricity,' he told the Financial Times.

Many of these poorly-built wind farms have also been bought by multinational energy firms from other parts of Europe.

But the alleged mafia involvement in Sicily's wind farms isn't their only problem. The island's mayor of Salemi, Vittorio Sgarbihas, has mounted a campaign against them.

This profile paints him as a loud-mouthed, publicity-seeking, television personality who has threatened to blow the farms up and is exploiting a Sicilian suspicion that the wind farms, mostly owned by multinationals, are another manifestation of foreign exploitation.

It certainly sounds like an entertaining issue - not least from the viewpoint of the mafia's evolving green credentials. What's next? Money laundering through carbon credits (if that is even possible)?