It is hard to walk through Venice, Italy without wondering how the place was built, its architecture rising inexplicably out of the dark water below, or how water, power and internet traverse its myriad canals. The Rialto Bridge is a great place to begin unpacking these mysteries.

Making this bridge possible is a forest of over 12,000 tree trunks burrowing below the surface. Dating back centuries, these foundations are embedded through loose soil below the waterline and into solid clay below, and support over 10,000 tons worth of structure above.

The whole city sits on over 10,000,000 tree trunks. The wood doesn’t rot because the poles are protected by surrounding mud, away from oxygen that would lead to decay.

Meanwhile, bridges like the Rialto serve a function beyond just connecting people — they also help water and utilities flow around the city, without needing to burrow underground or displace space in shallow canals.

The city still faces threats from structural decay, sinking structures and rising water levels, but perhaps the most amazing thing is that it is still standing at all hundreds of years after it was built.

In his latest work dubbed Birth, Death and Midlife Crisis, artist Alex Chinneck is back at it again, exploring the limits of seemingly solid structures (and observer imaginations). This latest work in Germany deforms a structural column, calling its conventional neighbors into question. “The columns are the prominent feature in the 450-year-old museum and this intervention took an opportunity to defy logic and distort history.”

A lot of the artist’s other work operates along similar lines, undermining our expectations for physics, engineering and built environments. “I like to give fluidity to typically inflexible things,” he explains, “transcending their material nature.” This approach can range from pealing up pavement like a giant carpet to breaking windows in an impossibly precise fashion on an abandoned building.

The idea, in part, is to achieve these effects seamlessly. In the case of his latest piece, he says: “I wanted to create the impression that we had only changed what was already physically present in the museum and the work was born through the manipulation, rather than introduction, of material. With this approach, the objective was to produce something sculpturally bold but contextually sensitive.”

Aiming to go even larger with Onward & Upward, his next plan is to install a series of tall brick chimneys in the UK, each built from 20,000 custom bricks and likewise featuring knots in the middle. For now, the above looks like an impossible rendering, but soon it will be a uniquely bizarre architectural reality.

Ukrainian pastry chef Dnara Kasko is at it again, this time with an algorithmically-modeled desert made up of 81 distinctly shaped pieces.

Kakso drew inspiration from artists and engineers and used Grasshopper, a digital program, to create a fresh take on a traditional pyramid cake.

Inside: each slice features mousse, ganache, and meringue of chocolate ruby. The berry confit at the center is complimented by a biscuit below.

But this is far from the chef’s first creation. Kasko is known for artistic collaborations and the use of modeling programs to play with materials, shapes and gravity.

Above: The Streusel — an almond sponge cake, confit blackberry-blueberry, mousse with blackberry and mascarpone tart .

In many cases, the results are starkly architectural, looking like Postmodern or Deconstructivist structures designed by the likes of Venturi, Gehry or Libiskind. Reportedly, they taste quite amazing as well.

This mesmerizing mobile facade is an aesthetic and engineering marvel, but one has to wonder: could the mechanisms behind it be appropriated for other architectural purposes, like: providing light and shade on demand or on a schedule?

The dynamic design wraps a new cultural center in Shanghai, part of a 190,000-square-meter development by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio (images by Laurian Ghinitoiu).

It was inspired by Chinese theaters with bamboo-like bronze tubes set in three layers around the perimeter, constituting what the designers describe as “a moving veil, which adapts to the changing use of the building, and reveals the stage on the balcony and views towards Pudong.” The effect is certainly stunning, but despite the description, it seems to be mostly for show — an novelty experience for visitors and viewers.

The same kinds of systems, however, could be deployed more strategically, using other kinds of semi-opaque screens, for instance, that could automatically position themselves throughout the day to provide layers of shade. Such an application would have practical benefits, reducing cooling costs inside structures and increasing human comfort.

Alternatively, a similar screen system could be controllable by occupants, allowing building users to block off sections for things like meetings or film screenings requiring different amounts of natural light. For now, it remains a fascinating one-off work, but hopefully architects will consider adding this as a tool in their kit, applying similar technical sophistication to solve other site-specific design problems.

As driverless vehicles hit the streets and shared car usage grows, forward-thinking architects, developers and urban planners are working on adaptable designs to future-proof parking garage structures and give them second lives.

Big firms like Gensler see the writing on the wall, predicting car usage will peak by the end of the decade and ride-sharing may dominate by 2025. The effect of this on cities and real estate will be massive, freeing up home garages, street parking and dedicated parking structures — nation-wide there are over 500,000 parking spots and spaces inside buildings and outdoors covering an estimated 3,500+ square miles.

Gensler’s The Mod concept plays to new possibilities in light of their predictions, featuring garage floor heights that will work for new uses. Its modular sections can be easily moved or removed to let in light and facilitate circulation. Built-in utility hookups also help make conversion easier. The firm has also designed a building in Ohio with three parking levels made to be changed into offices over time with easily-added facades and details similar to ones found on other floors (below).

Another such project — a 1,000-car garage for building residents in the Arts District of Los Angeles by Avalon Bay — is to be completed in four years, a long time in this age of fast-evolving technology. Accordingly, their plans include tricks to make converting this area back to other residential uses easy and efficient. This includes flat floors (rather than inclined ones found in many garages) so they can be turned effectively into usable spaces, like shops or community areas.

Converting garages will be a huge project of the coming decades, but so will rethinking the way new architecture is designed in the age of autonomous vehicles. Without people at the wheel, cars can park themselves in smaller spaces. Loading/unloading zones will be reduced and the way people enter buildings (from the street rather than a garage) could change dramatically as well.

Then, of course, there are streets — with less street-side parking, space is opened up for things like parklets, walking and biking paths (not to mention all of the changes to how roads will work). Accordingly, many designers, developers and planners are wisely anticipating these changes — still, their ultimate effect on the built environment remains to be seen as the future continues to take shape.