Skyscrapers are normally associated with society’s forced decline of the environment’s quality and sustainability. They represent man’s destructive ways against nature for the sake of progress. Not all skyscrapers are made this way and one concept design won the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The Polar Umbrella isn’t just a skyscraper design that tickles the imagination with future technological wonders. It stems from a concept that buildings can go beyond being eco-friendly. Built properly, they can actually start reversing some of the damage that has been done to the environment….

Receiving a Special Mention in Evolo’s 2010 Skyscraper Competition, this underwater skyscraper from Malaysian designer Sarly Ardre Bin Sarkum redefines what it means to be an impossibly large metal tube full of human beings. Decked out with swaying tentacles that collect kinetic energy from the current and its own private forest on top, it is designed not only to have zero environmental impact, but to actually contribute oxygen to the atmosphere at that. As if no one can tell that it’s a thinly-disguised temple for awakening Cthulhu. That is the only logical progression after the reign of George…

When you think of doing good or being environmentally sustainable, building a massive skyscraper probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But surprisingly, that’s exactly the aim behind an idea put forward by Polish architecture firm h3ar for the Sudan. The proposed tower, which looks like its pulled straight from a sci-fi movie, apparently employs a series of pumps to draw water from a recently discovered massive underground lake in Darfur. Since much of the conflict in the area has actually been a result of battles of limited water resources, this can only be a good thing….