A global team of architects, engineers, and artists, organized by MIT's Carlo Ratti, has pitched the Cloud to the city of London for the 2012 Games. The Cloud would function as part monument, part park, and part billboard. Visitors would be able to walk inside the high-flying bubbles, which would double as screens, broadcasting weather information, sports scores, and other information, which could be seen from the ground. The Cloud would also be self-sustaining, not hooked into any power grid, and would derive its energy from a combination of solar, wind, and water power.

The Cloud is a finalist in the competition to create a monument for the London Olympics, but even if it is not selected, the team hopes to build it. They've already started a fundraising effort in case they don't win the London contract.

The Cloud [via Inhabitat]

The Globe asked 20 architects and firms for their ideas on sprucing up the currently vacant sites, prompting ideas for parks, makeshift movie theaters, and even an algae reactor. Below are the 11 proposals for the Filene's redevelopment, but The Globe also attracted proposals for the currently defunct sites at the Columbus Center, Longwood, and the Harvard Science Complex.

Re-imagining Boston's stalled projects [The Boston Globe via Archinect]

Design #1 — Design firms: Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design

The team proposes to build a vertical algae-powered bioreactor on the Filene's site.
Design #2 — Architect: Michael Joyce

Design firm: Goody Clancy Associates

Joyce proposes to build an aluminum scaffolding on the site to hang replicas of suits to evoke the history of the Filene's site. At night, the suits are presented in silhouette and backlit lit by vintage images of the store's sale staff and customers.

Design #3 — Design firm: Neoscape

Neoscape proposes to build a large video screen on the Filene's site that would allow passersby to control the content from a touch screen installed on a fence on the site's perimeter.
Design #4 — Designer: William Frese

Frese, who is a scuptor, proposes to turn the Filene's site into an abstract apothecary chest, evoking the neighborhood's history in the jewelry trade. The "jewels" and a jeweler's hand tool would be placed throughout the site.

Design #5 — Designer: Brad Koerner

Design firm: LAM Partners Inc.

Koerner proposes draping the Filene's site in enormous fabric that would serve as the canvas for supersize LED video screens. The screens could project any number of animations, such as a waterfall, or artists could be commissioned to produce animations that reflect the spirit of the Downtown Crossing area. Flood lights would accent the remaining portions of the structure.

Design #6 — Architect: Travis Ewen

Design firm: Carol R. Johnson Associates

Ewen, a landscape architect, proposes to create an urban garden on the Filene's site with wind turbines and solar panels to be supported by the existing buildings.

Design #7 — Designer: Dave Waller

Design firm: Brickyard VFX

Waller proposes to use the empty Filene's site to post vintage neon signs from New England's history, featuring signs from old drive-ins, Howard Johnson's, and Dunkin' Donuts.

Design #8 — Architect: Derrick Choi

Design firm: XChange Architects

XChange proposes to erect a massive projection screen on the Filene's site to cover the buildings in images of Boston's sports triumphs and other celebrations such as Fourth of July and First Night. The construction site itself could be used to host a number of public-related purposes, such as the Boston Public Market farmer's market, Christmas tree sales, and the like.

Design # 9 — Design firm: Utile Inc.

Utile Inc., an urban planning firm, proposes to install crisscrossing boardwalks across the Filene's site that would provide new shortcuts through Downtown Crossing. Below the boardwalk would be a manicured pasture fit for sheep and other livestock that used to roam the nearby Boston Common.

Design #10 - Architect: Cynthia Bubb

Bubb proposes a bike park on the Filene's site, along with a large projection screen to show movies at night.
Design #11 — Architect: Christopher Golden

Design firm: Carol R. Johnson Associates

Golden, a landscape architect, proposes to fill the void in Downtown Crossing with a waterfall and urban oasis. The waterfall would drop from the side of the Filene's building and cascade into a swimming pool, which would be surrounded by a sandy beach. At night, lights and music would emanate from the core of the Filene's building.

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Additional Reporting by Caitlin Petrakovitz.

Kudless, an architect with Matsys Design, created the Sietch Nevada concept with Dune in mind, analogizing the arid planet with the American Southwest:

Although this science fiction novel sounded alien in 1965, the concept of a water-poor world is quickly becoming a reality, especially in the American Southwest. Lured by cheap land and the promise of endless water via the powerful Colorado River, millions have made this area their home. However, the Colorado River has been desiccated by both heavy agricultural use and global warming to the point that it now ends in an intermittent trickle in Baja California. Towns that once relied on the river for water have increasingly begun to create underground water banks for use in emergency drought conditions. However, as droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, these water banks will become more than simply emergency precautions.

To that end, Sietch Nevada is based on the Fremen sietches, a city consisting of man-made caverns beneath the desert. Openings in the desert floor allow water to drain into underground canals, creating a water reserve for the city. But Kudless also imagines other desert cities might be envious of the Sietch's superior water conservation:

However, the Sietch is also a bunker-like fortress preparing for the inevitable wars over water in the region.

Sietch Nevada [Mastys Design via Building Blog]

The son of an architect, Schuiten grew up fascinated by architecture and horrified by the increasing destruction of historic buildings in Brussels in favor of more generic modern structures. This sense has greatly influenced his most famous work, the ongoing Les Cités Obscures (often translated as Cities of the Fantastic), a collaboration with writer Benoît Peeters.

Les Cités Obscures is set on a "counter-Earth," a planet similar to our own that exists on the exact opposite side of the sun. The Obscure Cities are versions of Earth cities, but are ruled by architects, and so architecture is the world's driving force. Jules Verne is a recurring character in the series, and a key influence on the comic's technology and aesthetics.

In addition to Les Cités Obscures, Schuiten created Les Terres Creuses (The Hollow Grounds) with his brother Luc Schuiten, and designed the Arts et Métiers Métro station in Paris (inspired by Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea), and the Hallepoort station in Brussels.

[Urbicande]

Arts et Métiers
Arts et Métiers
Hallepoort
Hallepoort

Dozens of architectural firms submitted ideas to the International Ideas Competition for the Bering Strait Project, creating conceptual structures that would connect Alaska to Russia through the Bering Strait. Perhaps the most visually striking of the entries was the second place winner, from Paris-based firm OFF Architecture. Their conceptual eco-bridge spans the strait, protecting and maintaining its fragile ecosystem while offering stunning views of the wildlife. Tubes crossing through the largely underwater structure allow marine life to swim through, and living quarters and common areas look out into the ocean. At the same time, the bridge cuts through the strait's Big Diomede and Little Diomede islands, and the firm imagines a partially submerged city cut into the facade of those island cuts.

[Bustler via Inhabitat]

Residence
Site Plan
Facade
Section Zooms
Structure Axonometric
Diagrams
View from Tube
Interior Shot
Short Section through Diomede and Long Section through Diomede
City Built into Cut in the Island
Peace Park - A Footbridge from Big Diomede to Little Diomede