A ceremony has taken place to mark the beginning of construction on a massive 137 meters tall guitar shaped hotel in Hollywood, Florida. The 36-story giant glass tower is being built as part of a US$1.5 billion expansion of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which will nearly double its current size. The iconic guitar hotel structure is the vision of James F. Allen, longtime CEO of Seminole Gaming and Chairman of Hard Rock International. ‘It will be the first building in the world that’s truly to scale designed as an authentic guitar. So it’s not just an exterior facade, the curving of the building will be identical to an authentic guitar. We think the building itself will be must-see attraction,’ he told reporters. The tower is due to open in 2019 and will add 638 rooms and suites to pushing the room total to 1,270 and will also contain a 3900 square meters spa as well as several restaurants and lounges. The casino will have 3,267 slot machines and 178 table games such as blackjack and baccarat, plus a new 1670 square meters poker room. As well as wondering at the tower’s avant-garde shape, guests will access a 40.5 thousand square meters complex at its base that will offer private cabanas with plunge pools, multiple waterfalls, beach club dining and watersports.

The world consumes billions of water bottles — every year. Of those, only 1 of 5 is recycled. Fortunately, a handful of MIT students have developed a solution to this problem, and it involves repurposing waste plastic bottles to reinforce concrete. Because the newly-invented method results in the concrete being more durable than existing concrete, plastic bottles may soon be used to construct everything from stronger building foundations to sidewalks and street barriers, reported The MIT News. According to the study, which was published in the journal Waste Management, MIT students discovered a method to produce concrete that is up to 20 percent stronger than conventional concrete. First, plastic flakes are exposed to small amounts of harmless gamma radiation. Then, they are pulverized into a fine powder, after which it is added to concrete. The discovery has far-reaching implications, as concrete is the second most widely used material on Earth (the first is water). MIT News reports that approximately 4.5 percent of the world’s human-induced carbon emissions are generated by manufacturing concrete. By replacing small portions of concrete with recycled plastic, the cement industry’s toll on the environment would be reduced. The newly-discovered method would also prevent millions of water and soda bottles from ending up in landfills. Michael Short, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, said, “There is a huge amount of plastic that is landfilled every year. Our technology takes plastic out of the landfill, locks it up in concrete, and also uses less cement to make the concrete, which makes fewer carbon dioxide emissions. This has the potential to pull plastic landfill waste out of the landfill and into buildings, where it could actually help to make them stronger.”

Stefano Boeri Architects “Vertical Forests” continue to take root around the world, with the latest project planned for Paris, reported The Inhabitat. Designed for Villiers sur Marne in east Paris, Forêt Blanche will be a 54-meter-tall tower built predominately of timber. Two thousand trees, shrubs, and plants will cover the wooden facade—a green surface equivalent to a hectare of forest. Forêt Blanche will host residential apartments on the high floors, offices and commercial services in the lower part, with a mix of terraces and balconies on the four sides of the tower. The east and west facing side will allow the passage of sunlight all day, giving natural illumination and ventilation to the apartments and an exceptional panorama on the landscape of central Paris.

Architecture firm Snøhetta has revealed plans to build a restaurant in southern Norway that will be partly submerged in the sea to give diners a glimpse below the waves, reported The Dezeen. Described by the Oslo- and New York-based firm as "Europe's first underwater restaurant", the building will comprise a rugged concrete box with half of its body on the coastline, and the other half sunken underwater. Its primary use will be as a restaurant for up to 100 people, but it will also function as a marine research center and as an artificial mussel reef. Once inside, visitors will be able to look through a huge panoramic window to observe sea life at first hand. The building will be called Under – a word that the architects say is very similar to "wonder", when translated into Norwegian. It will be built near the village of Båly in Norway's Lindesnes region, on the country's southernmost tip. The building's concrete walls will be a meter thick, helping to withstand its inhospitable environment. Externally, this concrete will have a coarse texture, to encourage mussels to attach themselves to the structure. Meanwhile, the marine research center inside will facilitate studies into fish behavior – specifically whether it is possible to train wild fish with sound signals, and also whether fish act differently in different seasons. A huge frame-like oak wall will provide the building's entrance, which will lead through to a wood-lined restaurant space. The dining room will be painted in deep blue and green hues "inspired by the seabed, seaweed and rough sea". There will also be a champagne bar, featuring more subdued tones, intended to evoke shells, rocks and sand. The large panoramic window, measuring 11 meters wide, spans the entire end wall of the space.

UAE-based Azizi Developments announced a plan to launch a new US$ 6.8 billion mega community project in the heart of Dubai, reported the Arabian Business. The new project, whose name is yet to be announced, will have a distinctly British feel, with themes and elements influenced by contemporary British culture and way of living, Azizi said in a statement. It added that the development will comprise residential, commercial and retail space, with 105 mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings boasting 30,000 apartments. The new Azizi project will be located in central Dubai with a construction area of nearly 3.1 million square meters and will include education facilities, retail outlets, hospitality, a shopping area and outdoor recreation spaces. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in November and be completed before Expo 2020. “The rules and regulations in Dubai have provided an ideal environment for business growth, establishing the city as a preferred destination for trade and property investments,” Azizi added.