A joint project of Büro Ole Scheeren and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, this skyscraper nearing completion in Bangkok, Thailand, features shifted box elements that break up its surface to create balconies and terraces.

Located downtown, the 77-story building features hundreds of apartments, a hotel and other mixed-use functions, including, plazas, shops, bars and restaurants. It is also the tallest building in the city. Originally scheduled for completion in 2010, the structure will now be finished this year (recent photographs above and below by Simon Rawlings, benstinyplanet and tsa.p).

Renderings below illustrate the street-level entrances, an aerial perspective and close-up views of the pixelation effects, as well as showing how the design evolved from concept to reality (as compared to photographs of its current state above).

From the architects: “The design moves beyond the traditional formula of a seamless, inert, glossy totem, and instead actively engages the city: MahaNakhon’s pixilated and carved presence embraces and connects to the surrounding urban fabric rather than overpowering it.”

“Its glittering stacked surfaces, terraces and protrusions will simultaneously create the impression of digital pixilation and echo the irregularity of ancient mountain topography.”

Though the circumstances of their liberation seem somewhat more political than practical, the thousands of fish set to be freed into the wild may not care much about the reasons for the positive change in venue either way.

The ruins of the New World Mall in Bangkok, Thailand, were initially introduced by area vendors to a mixture of tilapia, carp and catfish after their roof collapsed, for indirectly obvious reasons: the stagnant water that subsequently collected in the void space had become breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The resulting informal fishery was fueled by tourists who came to see the strange site, which in turn captured the attention of the local government – as it turns out, abandoned buildings are not what most places want to be known for.

Presumably due to the high profile of the case, the fish are being treated with great care: caught in nets, they are being rounded by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration staff and sent to various lakes and streams around the region.

As to the structure itself: officials have called for its demolition and a court has ordered the corporation behind the failed structure (which never got proper permits) to pay for the draining, destruction and cleaning of the site. Update and images via CityLabs.