A 100-meter-tall experimental air purifier has been built in Xi’an, the capital of China’s central Shaanxi province, reported The Inhabitat. The tower, which is being tested by researchers from the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has noticeably cleaner air over an area of 10 square kilometers since being turned on last year, according to the South China Morning Post. The tower sucks in polluted air and funnels it into greenhouses at the base of the structure. The smog is heated in the greenhouse by solar energy, then rises through the tower, passing through several layers of cleaning filters. The expelled air contains 15 percent less particulate matter than it did before being scrubbed. The greenhouses are powered by solar energy and are able to run in winter as well as summer. Cao Junji, head of research, said, “It barely requires any power input throughout daylight hours. The idea has worked very well in the test run.” Cao and his team are now planning a 500-meter-tall and 200-meter-wide tower, with greenhouses covering 30 square kilometers that would be able to purify air for a small city. Air purifiers have been installed in China before, but only in a symbolic way. Last year a 4-meter-high filter called “CityTree” was tried out in Berlin.

Dutch firm MVRDV has built a public library that looks like a huge eye, as part of a new cultural district in Tianjin, China. The atrium of the Tianjin Binhai Public Library is deliberately designed to look like a 3D eyeball, staring out through the building's glazed façade, reported the Dezeen. The five-storey-high space is framed by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which are staggered at different levels to form the shape of an eye socket, while a spherical mirrored auditorium at the centre forms the pupil. The curving lines of the shelves provide areas where visitors can sit and read, and observe others doing the same. They also continue out across the glass facade, forming louvers that deflect the glare of the sun. MVRDV first revealed its designs for the Tianjin Binhai Public Library in June 2016, when construction was already well underway. It is one of five buildings commissioned by the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute to form a new cultural centre for the Binhai district of the coastal city. The master plan for the area was set by German firm GMP – and MVRDV found it a struggle to fit the entire program into the allotted space. It was this that led the team to create the spherical auditorium at the centre. The 33,700-square-metre building is the Dutch firm's fastest project completion to date – with a period of just three years between the first sketch and the opening ceremony. Fast-tracking the process caused a few design headaches. The upper shelves directly above the atrium are currently unreachable, after planned access rooms were dropped – a decision MVRDV said was taken by the local team against their advice. As a result, these shelves are covered in perforated aluminum plates that printed to look like books. They are cleaned using a system of moveable scaffolding and ropes. The library also houses education facilities, which are located around the periphery of the interior and accessed via the main hall. Subterranean rooms hold a large archive and provide extra book storage. Reading areas for children and the elderly are located on the ground floor, with reading rooms and lounge areas on the first and second floors. The upper floors contain meeting rooms, offices, computer rooms and two rooftop terraces. Tianjin Binhai Public Library sits alongside building a new exhibition center by GMP, as well as other cultural buildings by Bernard Tschumi Architects, Bing Thom Architects and HH Design. All five are connected by a public corridor sheltered beneath a glass canopy.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new China Embassy took place in Yerevan today. The new site is located on Admiral Isakov 17/4, near the intersection of Isakov and Bagratunyants avenues. China constructing its new embassy near the US embassy and it will be the second largest embassy in Armenia after the US Embassy. The territory of the embassy occupies about 4 hectares. Construction works will be carried out by builders from China and, according to preliminary data, construction will last for about two years. Today, the Embassy of People's Republic of China located at Baghramyan 12, which has been provided by the Armenian Government on a temporary basis since 1992.

A Chinese firm state-owned giant China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) has signed a deal with Moroccan partners The General Construction Company of Casablanca (TGCC) to build the tallest skyscraper in Africa in the capital of Morocco Rabat, Xinhuanet reported on Sunday. CRCC will take responsibility for 60% of the project, which is budgeted at US$380 million, while their Moroccan partners, The General Construction Company of Casablanca (TGCC), handle the other 40%. The 55-storey tower will reach 250 meters high, with the adoption of ecological and sustainable design concepts. It will include offices, hotels and luxury apartments, according to the report. The tower will be the highlight of a large-scale project to develop the Bouregreg valley in Rabat, a key component of the 2014-2018 Integrated Development Program dubbed "Rabat, City of Light, and Moroccan Cultural Capital." The new project also involves the construction of several innovative facilities, including the Grand Theatre of Rabat, the Arts and Culture House, the National Archives of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Archaeological Museum. Currently, the tallest building in Africa is the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg at 223 meters in height. The tallest building in Morocco is the Casablanca Twin Center at a mere 115 meters.

A pioneering 3D-printed house just popped up in Xian, China - and Chinese company ZhuoDa "built" the two-story villa in less than three hours. Made up of six 3D-printed modules, the house was assembled like LEGO bricks before a live audience who were then invited to explore the interior. The modular fireproof home can withstand a magnitude-9 earthquake and is made from a special construction material the company is keeping secret. The company completed approximately 90 percent of the construction in an off-site factory before shipping the modular pieces to the installation site. This efficient and timesaving process dramatically reduces construction costs to just US$ 400 - US$ 480 per square meter. According to An Yongliang, the developing engineer at Zhuoda, the 3D-printed villa only takes about 10 days to produce from initial construction to final assembly, while it typically takes half a year to build a traditional villa. The house is capable of withstanding high-magnitude earthquakes because the modules, each weighing over 100 kilograms per square meter, bear weight independently. The steel-framed structure home can also be filled with heat-insulating materials. The Zhuoda Group has filed over 22 patents on their technology and is keeping their top-secret material under wraps. However, the company's vice president Tan BuYong has revealed that the new material is sourced from industrial and agricultural waste, is fireproof and waterproof, and is free from harmful substances such as formaldehyde, ammonia, and radon. After the structural framework was 3D-printed, the company applied decorative sheet textures to each module before final assembly. Homeowners will be able to choose from a variety of decorative textures, such as jade, marble, wood, and granite. Herbs can even be embedded into the walls of the house for "built-in aromatherapy". The buildings can withstand wear for at least 150 years. On January 2015 a Chinese company WinSun has successfully 3D printed a five-story apartment building and a 110 square meters villa from special print material. China's newest mansion is not only made from recycled materials, but the sprawling 110 square meters home was made with 3D printing. The luxury mansion was 3D printed in layers, using recycled stone and construction waste.