A classic mid-century roadside motel in Las Vegas has been turned into a fantastically colorful habitat for a series of huge animals, constructed from waste collected from dumpsters, abandoned factories and scrap yards.

This 10,000-square-foot zoo parody (dubbed ‘Wild Wild Waste’) by artist Bordalo II is his biggest installation to date. It’s designed to make statements about the commodification of animal habitats as well as human waste production and management activities.

“Bordalo is inspired by the rejected, the broken, the wasted, somehow our everyday,” explains the exhibit’s curator. “With the trash we refuse to be responsible for he creates a fantastic installation that is playful and, furthermore that question our relation to waste and our responsibility.”

The animals are simultaneously visible as a whole and a set of parts. A flock of penguins emerges from plastic cubes, car parts morph into a family of pandas, while a whale caught in a fishing net and lion caged in a truck further highlight ideas of confinement.

“We were so humbled to have the opportunity to help host the art of bordalo at life is beautiful this past weekend,” said one of the organizers. “The entire installation’s emotional nature gave us all a little lesson in doing more with less in our work and in our environment.”

With an overt nod to Habitat 67 in Montreal by Moshe Safdie (similarly made up of many smaller modules, as show below), this new, undulating, mixed-use megastructure has been approved for construction in Toronto, Canada.

The King West Street development from Bjarke Ingels’ firm BIG looks like a series of rolling hills, or in the words of the architect: “peaks and valleys.” The firm has overtly called it “Habitat 2.0” informally as well.

“With King Street West, we wanted to find an alternative to the tower and podium you see a lot of in Toronto and revisit some of Safdie’s revolutionary ideas,” said Ingels in statement  “But rather than a utopian experiment on an island, have it nested into the heart of the city.”

The structure ranges from a few up to sixteen stories with balconies and terraces for all residents, aimed at maximizing natural light. “The topography of the peaks and valleys provides terraces for larger units, while others have balconies stacked along the building’s perimeter,” explains BIG.

“Each pixel is set at the size of a room; rotated 45 degrees from the street grid to increase exposure to light and air. An undulating design allows light to reach neighbouring King Street all year round.” In the middle, a central courtyard can be shared and used for urban farming, too.

When Le Corbusier designed his Brutalist Unité d’Habitation structures in Marseilles and Berlin, the architect imagined these as models for the future of vertical urban living. But, as they say in war: his plans didn’t survive contact with the enemy.

Completed in 1958, the Berlin version in particular was altered internally prior to construction, meaning that the original layouts and details Corbu had it mind were largely left on the drawing table, replaced instead by cheaper, German-drafted plans. At least until German-American architect Philipp Mohr (images Didier Gaillard-Hohlweg) bought a unit in the building.

He purchased a condo that, at the time, “was all entirely white and looked more like a prison, or the typical 1980s German social housing, than anything Corbusier had ever designed.” Even the ceiling heights were out of alignment with the original design.

Mohr went beyond restoring the 1958 format format, studying historical design documents at the Foundation Le Corbusier and the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris to see past what was actually built.

With the big picture in hand, he set about studying colors, lighting, finishes, plans and other details of Corbu’s to replicate his original vision as much as possible.

Having finished the renovation, Mohr believes the space is better for it. “The colours are timeless and very soothing and inviting,” Mohr says. “The use of wood and natural finishes is comfortable and homely. The proportions are pleasing and the relationship to views and light is positive and uplifting.”

A new first-of-its-kind underwater art museum in the Maldives features exhibits and sculptures at various levels, from the seabed through the intertidal waterline and up to the skyline, designed to be exposed and submerged to different degrees.

More than just an aesthetic endeavor, however, the project by environmental artist Jason Decaires Taylor is engineered to support the regrowth of endangered coral populations and other local marine wildlife. It’s the island’s first regeneration project, addressing a real need while also raising regional awareness.

The outer shell is a permeable, stainless steel structure, with some above-water sculptures placed on top. Below, divers can visit works made of marine-grade cement that will, over time, become covered as sealife attaches to it.

Visitors will be able to follow a path from the shore along which they can explore local sea life in the shallows before reaching the museum, a symbolic journey from land to low water and into the deep beyond.

The intentionally porous frame of the main museum building allows in even large fish, while also providing a tidal break to help shelter any creatures who choose to take up residence (or simply find temporary refuge) within.

Marine steel mirrors and mimics surrounding sea blues, and will ultimately also reflect the greens of the natural algae bound to accumulate as this seed structure naturally changes and grows in response to its environment.

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)

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.”