The BMW Welt designed by Coop Himmelblau was completed in 2007 as a new delivery center for BMW. An open consultation ended with Coops design coming out in front. Its unique design and stunning shape show that corporate environments don’t have do be boring squares and cubicles.

The Physical Science center at the University of Oklahoma feels how it looks. My toughest classes were taken here and each class day inside the windowless rooms was a stark, boring, and slow suffering experience.

I have a love/ hate relationship with the great reading room. While it is one of my favorite places on campus, it is also where I go to study for my finals if it is available which means a decent amount of stress has happened here. Which also means a lot of good grades were made here too though!

I would hope that this structure has positive meaning to those at this university. To me, I remember the first time every seeing it in person and to this day believe it is once of the greatest college stadiums in the country!

Finally, I present what may be my favorite of the structures that I have listed thus far: Miho Museum in the city of Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This museum was completed and opened in 1997 and is home to the private collection of antiques and art from the world over, all of which are owned by Mihoko Koyama (小山美秀子).

This design illustrates the balance possible between man and nature, which happens to also be one of the main ideas behind Shumei, the religious organization founded by Mihoko Koyama, that calls this serene palace its home. In that same spirit, according to the museum’s website, 80% of the structure is underground so as to preserve the presence of nature on the museum grounds.

– an aside –

If any of you are curious, I suggest looking into Shinji Shumeikai, the religion I mentioned earlier. It’s an interesting one. One of their main beliefs is that by constructing elegant works of architecture in remote areas, they restore the balance of Earth. This is based on my minimal research, but still a cool concept.

BOK Park Plaza will provide unrivaled luxury Class-A office space for the critical business sector of the city as the first ambitious office building in Oklahoma City in 30 years. The shape of the tower responds to and represents the distinctive architecture of the neighboring Devon Energy Center and Devon Auditorium (both designed by Pickard Chilton) and maximizes site views.

Miami Worldcenter is currently under construction as a massive mixed-use project in central Miami, consisting of 30 contiguous acres spanning ten city blocks. Renowned as America’s second-largest urban real estate development and the largest building venture in Florida’s history, it is anticipated that the plan will include high street shopping, Class-A offices and conference facilities as well as a multi-family space.

The Petronas Towers located in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. In 1996, the twin 88-story Petronas Headquarters Towers are recognized as the world’s highest buildings and have become the international icon for Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia since. Kuala Lumpur City Centre, a forty-hectare development in the heart of the commercial district of the city, focuses on the buildings. The two buildings, connected by a skybridge at the midpoint, create a monumental urban garden.

The last exemple of Vo Trong Nghia architects is a residential building called ” The Breathing House”. The Breathing house was built for a single family in Ho Chi Minh City and is accessible via a 10 foot wide alleyway. It was built in a very high density area of the city and provides privacy as well as a viable example of the tropical environment in Vietnam. The entire facade of this building is draped in a “green veil” which is made of what he calls ” creeper plants” attached to a steel frame. The plants act as a soft layer to the building that filters heat and sunlight and quite literally breathes and  provides clean air. The structure also provides the tenants with natural sunlight that is diffused as it travels inside and the thick vegetation outside also prevents the residents from ” urban crime”. The roof of the building is also covered by the flora cover and the entire building is somewhat symbolic because it is literally a breath of fresh air in an otherwise urbanized, industrial city.

The Uber Sky Tower, which is soon to be in the center of Los Angeles, California is something our world never saw coming. With over 1,000 Uber aircrafts landing and departing every hour, our would is about to change whether we want it to or not. With this tower, travel is going to become more efficient and the world will become a more environmentally friendly place to live.