These designs convey all of the diverse wonder of coral reefs without having to walk along an actual sea floor (and presumably slice open a foot in the process.

Porto-based Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragão crochets, weaves and latch-hooks her textiles with inspiration from coral, algae and fungi, often from exotic, remote and underwater environments.

Her works range from entire round Earths (and other abstracted planetoids) to small ecosystems constructed at 1-to-1 scale, creating a sense of visual realism without compromising creature comforts.

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A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

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A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

Artist bio: “My name is Vanessa Barragão, I’m from the south of Portugal but right now I’m based in Porto. I took a degree in Fashion Design and when I was doing the master degree I started exploring more about handcrafted textile techniques and the wool process.” She then dedicated herself to “doing artworks such as tapestries using several techniques: latch hooking, crochet, weaving, knitting, basketry and felt.”

Cozy on the inside and virtually invisible on the outside, this Modernist home has a reflective facade allowing it to blend in with the natural environment. Meanwhile, residents can enjoy views out thanks to the one-way mirrored panels.

Designed by Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao (images by Rory Gardiner), the vacation complex in Monterrey has been dubbed Los Terrenos (Spanish for “The Terrains”). Each of three structures in the set are based primarily on one material: glass, earth or wood.

The earthen home has solid walls for privacy, ideally suited for bedrooms. Open-plan living, dining and kitchen spaces are in the more open and naturally lit glass companion building.

The glass curtain wall of the mirrored structure is hung to minimize interruption on the exterior, creating a nearly seamless reflective effect.

The other soil-based structure is composed of clay brick and rammed earth, creating a grounded contrast with its disappearing partner. The third structure has yet to be built, but will be elevated and wooden, again tying it to the forested surroundings.

The world’s largest solar power-producing nation is showing off its record-setting green energy production through an adorable new array shaped like a giant panda bear, the national animal of China.

This Panda Power Plant in Datong, China, was developed by Panda Green Energy in partnership with the United Nations Development Program. And this first sections of this huge creature-shaped station mosaic have just been hooked up to the grid.

The plant also going to grow — currently at 50 megawatts, the installation will have a capacity of 100 MW upon completion. Over the next 25 years, the array is estimated to provide as much power as 1 million tons of coal and to reduce CO2 emissions by over 2.5 million tons.

The whole panda figure is part of the power production process: darker parts of the animal shape (like legs and arms) are made up of monocrystalline silicone solar cells — gray areas (face and torso) are thin-film solar cells.

An educational center alongside the Panda Power Plant aims to teach children about the advantages of solar power and other forms of sustainable energy. Meanwhile, more panda plants are in planning phases as well across China, and some may also end up outside the country.

A key development in the quest to create sustainable ecosystems in space, this expandable greenhouse prototype aims to generate essential food and oxygen for long-term astronaut travel.

Recently, Peggy Whitson broke the record for longest stay in space (534 days) and astronauts have started growing their own vegetables on the International Space Station. This collapsible growing unit aims to take things to the next level, enabling longer-term settlements on places including the moon and Mars.

Developed by NASA and agricultural researchers at the University of Arizona, the test unit spans 7 by 18 feet. Its primary functions: convert carbon dioxide from crew, support plant photosynthesis. This bio-regenerative approach to life support is an essential system for recycling scarce resources off-planet.

It also takes its queues directly from our own world: “We’re mimicking what the plants would have if they were on Earth, and using of these processes for life support. The entire system of the lunar greenhouse does represent, in a small way, the biological systems that are here on earth.”

But a big trick to the design is simply its portability: materials take up space, so engineering minimal frameworks that will work when the system is expanded is critical to getting space greenhouses into (and out of) orbit in the first place.

Meanwhile, on the ISS, astronauts continue to grow (and consume) plants outside of Earth’s normal gravity, paving the way for a better understanding of how agriculture will really work off-planet in the future.

A visceral memorial to the nearly 100,000 victims of China’s 2008 earthquake, this weathered-steel monument and museum conjures images of cracked Earth left in the wake of a quake.

The Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum was conceived of as an architectural landscape and situated in Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the earthquake in the Sichuan Province.

Green roofs look unassuming in the landscape while rusted steal provides a ground-hued contrast in the cracks winding their way through the ruptured site. The effect is powerful, giving visitors the sense that they are walking in the actual voids left by the disaster.

The quake was responsible for an estimated 70,000 deaths and left tens of thousands missing. The museum complex was created by the faculty of Tonji University at the request of the Chinese government.

The sheer magnitude of such an event is impossible to capture in physical form, but this design aims to at least give a sense of the devastation and places for remembrance and quiet contemplation.