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.

The city of Vancouver just approved a unique new tower that promises to be one of the greenest skyscrapers in all of Canada. The Exchange is a 31-story tower that will be built directly on top of the existing 11-story Old Stock Exchange building, which was built in 1929. The new building was designed by architect Harry Gugger, who previously worked for Herzog & de Meuron and is credited with designing the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing and the Tate Modern in London. The entire project is seeking LEED Platinum certification. The new 31-story tower will rest partially on top of and it will stand partially alongside the existing Old Stock Exchange Building. The Stock Exchange building will be completely renovated and incorporated into the new development, and it will become Canada's first LEED Platinum heritage conversion. The project, which is already being described as Canada's largest green office building, will feature a variety of energy-saving technologies. Shading louvers will be incorporated into the facade, preventing direct sunlight from hitting the building's windows, and reducing the need for air conditioning. The building will also feature a high-efficiency hydronic heating and cooling system. Solar thermal panels will provide hot water, and the building will feature storm water retention and reuse system. Inside, the building will feature lush landscaped sky gardens for workers to enjoy. Overall, the building's green features are expected to result in 50 percent less energy use, which will translate to a 35 percent reduction in energy costs. Construction on the US$ 200 million building is scheduled to begin in October, and the project is expected to be completed in 2017.

The topping-out ceremony for the Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower, the world's second-tallest building, took place in Shanghai on August 3. The 632 meter-high tower has now reached its full height and is second only to the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, which measures 828 meters. The tower’s cleverly designed facade reduces wind load by 24 percent during typhoons, and sky gardens at the apex mimic traditional open courtyards. Gensler's local engineering and design team had to devise several unique components to accommodate the 121 story tower located in an emerging financial district in Pudong. The clay soil would have been insufficient to carry the tower's heavy load, so a system of 831 reinforced concrete bore piles had to be poured in 60 straight hours as a solid foundation. Also, China is subject to powerful typhoons that can destabilize a tower of such heights, so it was important to reduce the project's wind load. The twisting form reduces the load by 24 percent during typhoons, and also slashed construction costs by a whopping US$ 58 million. The building is organized in nine vertical zones that distribute heating, cooling and water more efficiently than a standard tower, thereby reducing these loads, as well as the costs of maintaining interior comfort. Sky gardens crown the mammoth building alongside observation decks and cultural facilities, while retail facilities are located at the base. Offices are spread out between. The tower will open in 2014.

The company hoping to build the world's tallest skyscraper in record time held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 20, in Changsha, China. Broad Sustainable Building is planning to build the 838-meter Sky City using its prefabricated modular construction method. The founder of parent company Broad Group Chairman Zhang Yue announced the tower will be completed by April 2014 and will cost around US$ 846 million to complete. Its total built-up area will contain just over 1 square kilometer of space. The tower, which will be taller than Dubai's Burj Khalifa by 10 meters, will contain a hotel for 1,000 guests and housing for up to 31,400 people, ranging from penthouses to high-density units for low-income tenants. It will also contain a hospital, schools, shops, restaurants and offices, creating an entire city within the building. According to Broad Group, 90 percent of the building will be pre-fabricated in the company's factories. The units will be produced by 20,000 workers in four months. Then it will take three months for 30,000 workers to finish fabricating the units and other actual constructions on site. In its promotion of the project, Broad Sustainable Building frequently cites its environmental credentials, stating that a typical Sky City resident's CO2 production will fall to two tons annually, compared with an average of 5.5 tons per person in China generally. At first about this project announced The Morning Whistle newspaper in 2012. At that time nobody believed. China's new propose is unbelievable, as world's current tallest building Burj Khalifa required six years to build . Two months after shocking news, the head and founder of Broad Sustainable Building Company Zhang Yue, much increases the likelihood of the realization of this incredible project. During the interview, a Chinese man said that the 220-story skyscraper, which he called "Sky City" certainly to be built. In addition, he presented to the public another ambitious project, which height is 2 kilometers. On May 2013 Lloyd Alter at Treehugger reported, that Broad Sustainable Building, the company behind the tower, will begin construction on the prefab behemoth this June. Finally construction begins! Probability that the Broad Sustainable Building Company can afford this unbelievable task is very high. Recently the prefab Hotel in China's south-central Hunan province standing 30 stories was erected in an incredible 360 hours or in 15 days. The hotel built Chinese sustainable-building firm Broad Group and the building is designed to withstand up a 9.0 magnitude earthquake - and even boasts energy-efficient building techniques. In 2010 Broad Group during 6 days built another prefab building, the 15-story Ark Hotel in the Changsha Province, demonstrating fantastic speed of prefab building construction. When completed, the tower would join a growing list of top architectural feats in China. The country is now home to the world's longest high-speed rail line , highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge, largest building (by area), and soon the world's longest undersea tunne soon the world's longest undersea tunnel.

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he is looking at the world's largest cities, including Shanghai, Moscow, London and New York, as possible locations to build a 1.6-kilometer - high skyscraper that would be the world's tallest building by far. The prince is inviting Dubai's biggest real estate developer Emaar Properties, chaired by Mohammed Alabbar, to team up with his investment firm Kingdom Holding on the project. Alwaleed did not say how the project would be financed if it went ahead, or when it might be completed. He said the cost had yet to be decided. But his ambition reflects the growing confidence of many Gulf companies as they expand overseas, aided by booming economies and rising asset prices in their home countries. He also added countries interested in hosting the world's tallest tower would have to offer attractive financing terms, tax breaks and other government support. Alabbar could not immediately be reached for comment. Over the past year, Emaar has committed itself to several other huge projects in Dubai and nearby countries. Industry experts have said building a 1.6 kilometer skyscraper would involve technical and design challenges, such as how to supply water economically at that height, but would not be impossible. If it is built, the 1.6 kilometer-high tower would surpass the world's current tallest skyscraper, the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai, as well as the 1 kilometer-high Kingdom Tower now being built by Kingdom Holding in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. The Kingdom Tower is expected to cost around US$ 1.2 billion and will form part of a hotel, retail and luxury residential project. The structure is expected to reach ground level by the end of this year and to be completed in 2017, said Talal Al Maiman, executive director at Kingdom Holding. About 30 percent of useable land in the overall project, which will have an area of about 5.3 million square meters, will be allocated to hotels. The remainder will be divided equally between retail and premium residential space, Al Maiman added. Kingdom Holding, which went public in 2007, has a market value of about $18.5 billion, making it one of the largest listed investment firms in the Middle East. Its assets include stakes in top Western firms such as Citigroup, News Corp and Twitter as well as luxury hotels around the world.