A kaleidoscopic space filled with reflected and refracted light in all shades of the rainbow makes you feel like you’ve somehow immersed yourself inside a crystal at the DMMPLANETS exhibition in Odaiba, Tokyo. Dreamed up by the art collective teamLab, ‘Wander through the Crystal Universe’ is one of three major interactive installations in place through the end of August for the inaugural show. The work uses accumulated light points to create a sculptural body, “similar to the way distinct dots of color form an image in a pointillist painting.”

As you walk through the three-dimensional light space, your movement affects the light particles, creating changes in the installation. Each person’s action or change affects the way everyone present experiences the space. The lights are constantly moving and shimmering, going dark to mimic the effect of floating in space and then shifting into new color palettes. Visitors can further interact with the exhibit using their smartphones, selecting certain elements and enhancing them.

“In Crystal Universe, the particles of light are digitally controlled, and change based on the viewer’s interactivity with the work. The result is an installation consisting of an accumulation of lights, forming a sculpture that expresses the universe.”

Equally enchanting is ‘Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity.’ In this case, visitors are walking into a pool of water, influencing the movement of projected koi.

“When the fish collide with people they turn into flowers and scatter. The trajectory of the koi is determined by the presence of people and these trajectories trace lines on the surface of the water. The work is rendered in real time by a computer program, it is neither a pre-recorded animation nor on loop. The interaction between the viewer and the installation causes continuous change in the artwork. Previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur.”

Grand or gaudy, brilliant or just big, this giant-sized, crystal-styled structure is to be the first in a series of gemstone-inspired hotels in which guest rooms are tucked behind colorful glazing – even its designers at NL Architects concede the scheme is at least “slightly insane.”

Dubbed the Amethyst Hotel, this project draws on a long history of cultural associations with this crystal: “The violet-coloured quartz stone has been the subject of numerous myths through history – in Greece it was believed to prevent drunkenness, while medieval soldiers used it for protection during battle, and others thought it could strengthen the immune system or prevent nightmares.”

Kamiel Klaasse and Pieter Bannenberg also drew inspiration from the long-standing tradition of having huge atrium spaces at the heart of hotel designs, seen in major chains like Hyatt and Marriott in the United States and around the world.

Instead of constructing the whole building around an central atrium, however, this approach conceptually slices the structure through its center, just as a geode is cut open to reveal the inner cavity and its hidden crystals.

Set to be built on an artificial island in China (though shown here in various theoretical settings), the design is already arguably serving part of its purpose simply by having been proposed: it is being discussed, debated, critiqued and commented upon by architects and designers around the world and as they say: all press is good press.

Break open even the dullest rock and you may reveal amazing quartz or other crystals in radiant whites, blues, purples and reds. This street art project exposes parallel formations in cracked concrete, broken brick and rusted pipes.

A Common Name – freelance artist and graphic designer based out of Los Angeles – skips two-dimensional methods to make 3D paper sculptures that morph to fit various shapes and sizes of empty spaces found walking city streets.

“A parallel aspect of these “geodes” in nature and in the city is they are always unexpected treasures. You might go hunting … but generally happen upon them during your adventures or casual interaction with the environment.”

Sure, they disappear over time – stolen, broken or simply washed away – but that is part of the point: once exposed, geodes are fragile and subject to the forces of nature, time and greed.