The Dutch have been fighting the rising and falling tides for centuries, building dikes and pumping water out of areas that are below sea level. Now, rather than fight the water infiltrating their land, the Dutch will use it as part of a new development called "New Water", which will feature the world's first floating apartment complex, The Citadel. Netherlands-based firm Waterstudio just announced plans to construct the world's first floating apartment complex in 2014! The Citadel will offer 60 luxury apartments made from 180 modular units that will be arranged around a central courtyard and topped with green roofs. The Netherlands is home to over 3,500 polders, or patches of low-lying land that are protected by dykes. Since they are below sea level, water needs to be pumped out of these areas around the clock. The Citadel apartments will be one of six projects comprising the New Water development, which is located in one of these polders. After completion, the land will be flooded to allow the Citadel to float atop the water. The main deck will consist of a floating, heavy concrete base measuring 73 x 128 x 2.8 meters that will support the lightweight apartments and a parking lot. Each unit will be wrapped in aluminum and topped with a green roof. A bridge will connect the Citadel to the mainland and allow access for emergency and maintenance vehicles. Once water is reintroduced to the polder, the entire complex will float atop six feet of water. Inside the Citadel, each unit boasts a private outdoor space, a berth for a small boat, and greenhouses will be scattered among the units. Water will be pumped through submerged pipes to cool the structures. The overall design is estimated to make the apartments 25% more energy efficient than developments on land. Due to its size, residents will not be able to detect the motion of the water. Waterstudio is planning to begin building early next year.

Sculptor Anish Kapoor and architect Arata Isozaki have teamed up to design and build the world's first large-scale inflatable concert hall in Tohoku, Japan. The mobile structure, called Ark Nova, was designed not only as a venue for concerts and events, but also to spread hope throughout the northeastern part of Honshu, which has been ravaged by earthquakes and tsunamis. The concert hall opens to the public on October 14, reported the Inhabitat. The giant structure is made from a translucent purple membrane that can fully inflate in two hours and seat 500 people. Built in the northeast of Japan using repurposed tsunami-damaged cedar trees as material for the seating, the concert hall is easily transported around the region. The organizers of the Swiss Lucerne Festival commissioned the temporary structure as a way of helping the Ark Nova Music Festival in Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture, an area devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The organizers see the Ark Nova Project as "a symbiosis of architecture, design, traditional kabuki theatre performances and classical music as well as music education."

Eero Saarinen's famous JFK terminal at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture, but as a flight terminal, the building has fallen a bit behind the times. Largely unoccupied since 2001, the iconic building has left many wondering what would become of it. Recently, hotelier Andre Balazs announced that he would be turning the 1960s terminal into a hotel and changing the name from the TWA Flight Center to the Standard, Flight Center. The new hotel would include a conference center, meeting facilities, retail space, a spa and a flight museum to honor the building's heritage and will become a part of the Standard Hotel family. Balazs is still waiting for final approval from Port Authority, who contacted him about the opportunity, and there is no timeline in place as of right now. "The Port Authority is committed to preserving the essence of (Saarinen's) iconic design and to continuing to work with (Balazs Properties) on a plan to transform the historic TWA Flight Center into a one-of-a-kind hotel and conference center in the heart of JFK's central terminal area," said Pat Foye. It will be exciting to see what becomes of the historic space.

At the beginning of last year GDS Architects official site reported that they were in the early planning stage of building what will be known as the world's first invisible tower named Tower Infinity. Today GDS Architects was just granted the green light to begin construction on a sparkling new super-tall skyscraper in Seoul, South Korea. Tower Infinity will reach a height of 450 meters, placing it among the top 10 tallest buildings in the world. Designed for a location near the Incheon International Airport, Tower Infinity will also have the distinction of being 'invisible'. Using optical illusions and lighting, the tower will appear to disappear into the sky, making it a less obtrusive anti-tower. Tower Infinity will be located at the heart of the Yongsan International Business District, whose master plan was originally designed by Samoo. The "superscraper" will be a landmark project for the area, and it will serve as an iconic landmark for visitors coming from the international airport. GDS Architects won the competition to design the tower back in 2008 and just this summer they were granted permission to begin construction. The observation tower will largely be used for entertainment purposes - it will feature observation decks, wedding venues, a theater, a roller coaster, lots of restaurants, a water park, and a variety of landscaped gardens in the surrounding area. The crystalline tower is not just a vanity skyscraper though - as GDS has proposed a sort of anti-tower that blends into the sky and seems to disappear with the help of optical illusions, and lighting.

Google Inc., owner of the world's largest search engine, won local government approval to build its new U.K. headquarters next to King's Cross train station in London, reported Bloomberg. The Camden borough council unanimously approved the 85,8 thousand square meters building at a meeting on September 5. The project on 2.4 acres (1 hectare) will have a swimming pool and a running track on the roof and space for as many as 5 thousand workers, according to a filing to the borough. Google expects to move into the building, which will be seven to 11 stories, in 2015 after it agreed in January to buy the land from King's Cross Central LP , the Mountain View, California-based company said at the time. In July of this year Google unveiled images of its newest campus, a 270 thousand square meters, 11-story behemoth that will be designed by award-winning architectural firm AHMM. Construction is due to start at the end of this year and completed in 2015. About 16 stores will also be built on the ground floor of the new building. Kings Cross Central will own the shops as part of the deal with Google, according to the filing.