Architect David Fisher has proposed a plan for rotating towers that produce all of their own energy through wind power. The Rotating Tower would be built by stacking platters on a central concrete core with wind turbines located between each of them. Each floor will rotate 360 degrees about once every 90 minutes; as the floors will rotate independently, they will create a constantly changing silhouette in the sky. Inside the concrete core will be elevators, emergency stairs and lobbies. The Rotating Tower will be built in Dubai in the next six months.

Teatro del Agua

As water becomes an even hotter commodity in the future, engineers are looking for ways to ensure a continued supply of fresh water to meet the needs of the world’s growing population. Charles Patton is tackling this problem with his Seawater Greenhouse, a carbon-neutral desalination method which is being incorporated into the design of the Teatro del Agua. This Theater of Water will be a performing arts center in Spain’s Canary Islands. It works by coupling a series of evaporators and condensers such that the airborne moisture from the evaporators is then collected from the condensers, which are cooled by deep seawater.? The center will operate almost entirely on renewable energy.

Dice House

The Dice House is a zero carbon home, which can either stand alone or function as attached multiple dwellings. Designed by Sybarite, a British architecture firm, the Dice House is a 9 x 9 meter cube that sits on an octagonal plinth. Three levels inside the cube have large, plentiful windows to maximize views. A large thermoplastic umbrella on the garden roof of the house shades and insulates the house and collects solar energy.

Soft House

Passive House Museum

The world’s first passive house museum is set to be built in Ulricehamn, Sweden, functioning as a visitor’s center. The building’s heat will be supplied entirely by the body heat of visitors and the equipment located inside. Solar cells on the roof will provide part of the energy used to run electrical equipment and heat water. The circular design of the structure will allow efficient circulation of air to enhance the passive heating and cooling of the building.

Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco

Pelli Clark Pelli architects recently got approval for their design for a new green Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. The transit center will consist of a glass tower and a five-and-a-half acre public park, and will be packed with sustainable features like green roofs, passive solar shading, wind turbines, a rain and graywater recycling system and geothermal heating and cooling. The aim of the building is to centralize the region’s transportation system while also providing a community space. The center will be completed by 2014.

Habitat 2020

China’s population is exploding while its industrial ventures are producing more pollution than ever - a combination that makes it difficult to be eco-friendly. A new sustainable housing project called Habitat 2020 aims to be one of the leaders in bringing environmental initiatives to this growing country. The Habitat 2020 building will feature an active skin: a membrane between the exterior and interior walls that will absorb air, water and light from outside and dispatch it inside as clean filtered water, natural air conditioning and electricity. The same funnels on the membrane that pull these resources in will also emit clean, CO2-free air from inside the building. This urban megalopolis is set to be complete in 2020.