Photograph of the new Sinosteel International Plaza in Tianjin, China.

China is a large country with a history that goes back as far as the human collective mind can remember. China has one of the world’s oldest people and continuous civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia.

It has the world’s longest continuously used written language system, and is the source of many major inventions, such as what the British scholar and biochemist Joseph Needham called the “four inventions of Ancient China”: paper, the compass gunpowder and printing.

After the death of Mao Zedong, the new generation of political leaders decided to change the future of China by accepting Capitalism and mixing it with Communism in order to compete with the West. They called this economic and political strategy, “one country two, systems”.

“One country, two systems” is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaping during the early 1980s, for the reunification of China. He suggested that there will be only one China, but areas such as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can have their own capitalist economic and political systems, while the rest of China uses the “socialist” system.

Based on this pragmatic economic and political strategy, China launched one of the most spectacular economic growth the world has even seen. This dramatic economic growth is often referred to as “China’s economic miracle”.

Everywhere you turn your head these days, China is being heralded as the next big thing. There’s no question the country is on the rise—you can witness the stunning economic growth, massive modernization programs and the rising standard of living in the cities.

Its GDP is growing by 10 percent a year. Industrial production is galloping ahead at an annual rate of 17 percent. Its economy is now the second-biggest in the world, behind only the U.S., and there are predictions it will assume the top spot as early as 2020.

China’s integration into the world economy has been astonishingly rapid. Since its adoption of the “Four Modernizations” a generation ago (agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defence) China’s share of world economic output has grown from 3.4 per cent to almost 12 per cent in 2000.

One of the most visible signs of China’s economic growth is its modern architecture. China is now fertile ground for constructing spectacular buildings challenging those of Dubai. Visitors to China’s Summer Olympic Games will marvel in awe as they enter the Olympic venues.

Chins has embraced the so called “Green Architecture”. Green architecture is truly touching new heights with the amazing structures that are being built across the globe. These green skyscrapers are not only magnificent fresh designs that help the planet cool down and recuperate from the scars left by man but also add give modern cities a cool new look with designs that are shaped to dazzle and bamboozle all of us.

Currently under construction in Tinajin, China and to be completed in 2012, the 1,175-feet Sinosteel International Plaza and the 289-feet hotel next to it, have hexagonal windows that make them look like the inside of a beehive. The windows are designed in five different sizes, placed in an energy-efficient configuration that will take the most advantage of the sun and wind. This allows the structure to use the minimum possible energy from conventional energy sources.

Besides their rounded corners and weird windows making them look unlike any building ever built, that odd facade serves a more important purpose. Chinese architects MAD Ltd, designed the honeycomb-shaped exterior shells to actually hold the buildings up, freeing up more floor space. This amazing new construction taken up by the architects at MAD, once again shows China’s economic miracle in action. and the spread of green architecture across the globe.

Source: de zeen design magazine

A long time ago, when I was in college, I remember reading about Rene Descartes and common sense. He said, "Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have. "

Of course Descartes quote is ironic. It's evident that common sense is not very well distributed amongst all individuals. If it were, we would have a more rational world. I've seen many things in Panama that have nothing to do with common sense. For example, a President built a bridge with no roads leading to it, just because she wanted to dedicate the bridge to her late husband. She even invited the President of Colombia for the inauguration. Is that common sense?

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Unfortunately, Peru has been in the spotlight due to an 8.0 magnitude quake which struck the coast on August 15 killing at least 500 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

In a vast disaster area surrounding the cities of Pisco and Ica, the survivors, many of them living on the streets, are now desperately waiting for help. Over 34,000 houses were destroyed by the quake and several powerful aftershocks. The damage to the infrastructure is so severe that many relief efforts are hampered and remote mountain communities are cut off from assistance.

The situation in this South American country is extremely difficult. My heart feels for this land currently suffering great hardships, and trust the world community will fully cooperate in the quick recovery of the devastated areas.

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Many countries are promoting the construction of high-rise buildings as a strategy to attract tourism. For example, New York City is one of the most heavily promoted cities in this respect. The U.S. motion picture industry has greatly contributed to the marketing of New York's skyline. Having the tallest building in the world is an excellent tourist marketing strategy. This is what the island-country of Taiwan did. As of today, the tallest building in the world is in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan.

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In this Star Ship called Earth, we have seen all kinds of weirdos in different disciplines. Adolph Hitler in Politics, Jim Jones in Religion, Salvador Dali in Painting, Charles Chaplin in Movies and so on. This post is about weirdos in Architecture. In the next page you'll see eleven of the most unusual buildings on Earth. I wonder what that architect smoked before drawing the blueprints of those strange-looking structures. Take a look and be surprised.

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