Want a rush of adrenaline with your morning swim? Ballymore developers have unveiled an amazing transparent "sky pool" that'll make swimmers feel like they're floating through the air in London. Described as the "first of its kind in the world," the daring sky pool will be suspended 10-stories high between two apartment buildings in the Embassy Gardens development. The 25-meters-long swimming pool will be enclosed with 20 santimeter thick glass to give swimmers an unrivaled view of the streets of London 35 meters down below. Despite the sky pool's daredevil appearance, Ballymore says the pool has been granted planning permission and, like its renderings, will be entirely transparent and structure-free. The pool was designed by engineering firm Arup Associates with specialist advice from marine design engineers Eckersley O' Callaghan and aquarium designers Reynolds. The amazing structure will be developed as part of the HAL-designed 2,000-home Embassy Gardens in the new Nine Elms quarter that's currently under construction. The swimming pool will allow residents to swim between the two luxuries apartment buildings, which are both topped by sky decks with a bar, spa, orangery, and dramatic views of the Palace of Westminster. Residents who prefer not to swim can also get across via a footbridge. The proposed structure is 25 meters long, 5 meters wide, and nearly 3 meters deep, and was modeled after an aquarium. Sadly, not everyone will have the opportunity to swim through the air-units in the Embassy Gardens cost upwards of USD$ 944 thousand. The Embassy Gardens development is slated for completion in 2017.

China is well established as the world capital of duplication, with everything from its own rendition of the Eiffel Tower to a mock Venice. But their mock Wall Street financial district, constructed at a cost of US$ 50 billion carries its own rather unique ironies. Since the 2009 economic recession, the project-which also includes a mock Rockefeller Center and its own Hudson River-has been deeply in debt, and sits unfinished and abandoned. Work began on the mock-Manhattan Financial District is located in Yujiapu, near Tianjin, some 120 miles from Beijing, in 2008 with a US$ 50 billion budget. 47 office buildings and hotels were constructed to mimic NYC icons such as the Rockerfeller Center and Twin Towers. But in 2009 China hit an economic crisis, and construction on the project had largely stopped by 2010. NBC News explains that Yujiapu was scheduled for completion in 2019," offering 15 million square meters of office space over an area larger than Manhattan's financial district in a bid to stimulate development of vast residential districts nearby." But now the area of little more than a surreal, taped off ghost town. And that's not Yujiapu's only problem; adding to the eeriness of the abandoned would-be metropolis, the area is prone to flooding from storm surges and heavy rain. Quartz explains the development is "built on coastal salt flats just a few inches above sea level.. as a local resident told the Times in 2012, after nasty weather - "you had to roll up your pants and take off your shoes to walk across the street."

Recently visitors of luxury hotels aren't interested in 5-star hotels, which have spa-centers, fitness-centers and other luxury services. They want to live in original rooms, for example in icy-rooms, or in rooms which are situated on the trees or under the water. The first underwater hotel in Africa has opened off the remote island of Pemba, part of the archipelago of Zanzibar, in Tanzania last week. The hotel is 250 meters out to sea and consists of three floors, including a dining room and an upper deck for star-gazing. The bedroom is below deck completely submerged by water and provides a 360-degree view of sea life. But this isn't new for thus, who likes to relax originally. World's first underwater hotel is situated in Florida, USA. Hotel originally built in the early 1970s as a groundbreaking research lab, and opened for public as hotel only in 1986. The Jules Undersea Lodge. is consists of 2 bedrooms and a dining room. The "cottage-sized" hotel has the comforts of home like hot showers, a kitchen with a refrigerator, air conditioner and so on. Europe's only undersea hotel "Utter Inn" is situated in Sweden. The hotel is consists of a little room, kitchen and toilet. Underwater hotels are still largely a product of a vivid imagination. Several are in the planning stage or are currently under construction. In 2011 was announced that construction work was set to begin on a US$ 500 million semi-submerged resort named Amphibious 1000 on the Qatar coast. Two underwater projects "Water Discus Hotel" and "Hydropolis" were announced in Dubai, but the construction was delayed. Turkey, South Korea, Fiji, China also planning underwater projects. Besides these failures recently Tokyo-based Shimizu Corporation just unveiled blueprints for the world's first underwater city. The Shimizu construction company estimates that the technology to implement the "Ocean Spiral" could be in place by 2030.

The oldest pyramid in Egypt, the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, is being destroyed by the very company the Egyptian government has hired to restore it. The roughly 4.600-year-old structure has been in trouble since an earthquake hit the region in 1992, but in a difficult political and economic climate for the country, those now tasked with preserving the pyramid are doing more harm than good. Egyptian activists claim the company, Shurbagy, doesn't even have the necessary experience to be undertaking the work in the first place, and they have launched a campaign against the Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh al-Damaty, claiming a "full-fledged crime" has been committed. The crime in question is the breach of building regulations related to the restoration of ancient structures. Amir Gamal, a representative of the 'Non-stop Robberies' movement, states: "Technically, the company and officials of the Supreme Council of Antiquities committed a full-fledged crime. New walls were built outside the pyramid as if the pyramid were a modern construction, which is opposite to international standards of restoration, which prevents adding more than 5 percent of construction to antiquities if necessary." Furthermore, the additions are putting pressure on the structure, putting it at risk of collapse. The limestone step pyramid was originally 62 meters high. Inside is a network of corridors, as well as a granite and marble burial chamber. When the earthquake struck in 1992, large quantities of stone rained down into the center of the pyramid, creating a void at the top and the pyramid was in danger of total collapse. At that time, archaeologist Peter James's company installed an internally supported PVC balloon-like structure, which was inflated and filled with water to support the pyramid from within. In time it was hoped that the stone would be reinforced with steel rods to restore the building to its previous profile. But funding ran out, then political instability set in. In October 2012, the Ministry of Antiquities announced work had stopped on the site because they were unable to pay contractors. Work has since resumed under the responsibility of Shurbagy, but the company has already been responsible for the "major deterioration and collapse" of a whole section of the pyramid. The company has also not completed any one of the six previous construction contracts they have committed to in the last nine years. Adds Gamal, "The company has never restored any archaeological site. All projects it had were to create modern construction at archaeological sites." The pyramid and the Saqqara complex were designed by the engineer-architect Imhotep, and are beleived to be the world's oldest cut stone monuments. With the stepped Pyramid of Djoser marking the turning point from flat-roofed construction to the age of the pyramids in Egypt, it is a tragedy that such an important archaeological legacy could be destroyed by incompetence and lack of adequate funding.

Koen Olthuis and Dutch Docklands have announced a new project: a five-star floating hotel off the coast of Norway named the Krystall. Reminiscent of their Maldives development the Greenstar, this cold-climate sister project will take the form of a six-pointed ice crystal. As with Dutch Docklands' other floating structures the development will be low-impact, and it's designed to "blend in with the "winter environment" between the most beautiful fjords." The Krystall will float offshore from the northern city of Tromso, located within the Arctic Circle. Designed to be completely self-supporting and self-sustainable, the hotel will have a diameter of 120 meters, and facilities will include 86 guest rooms, conference rooms, and spa and wellness facilities. It's also billed as a perfect spot for viewing the Northern Lights due to its glass roof. The five-star luxury and spectacular nature of the project is aimed at attracting wealthy visitors from Japan, Russia and Europe. As Olthuis told CNN, "In the hotel, you'll float through hallways lined with cool, futuristic blue shapes, recline by a fireplace faced in transparent bricks resembling ice blocks and sleep in rooms tricked out in minimalist, winter-themed designs." But true to Olthuis's green principles, the design is not just about the aesthetics. To be built in dry dock and then positioned in place, the hotel will not leave a lasting footprint on its location. "That's the only way to bring a hotel to such a precious and beautiful marine environment," he says. Floating structures are a pragmatic design concern for the development company, as they ameliorate the risks to coastal properties associated with rising sea levels. As Olthuis explains, "We live in a dynamic world where static buildings do not bring us the needed flexibility. Building on water brings us new space for expansion, safety against floods and flexibility to adjust developments without demolition whenever needed." The hotel is set to open in December 2016.