Gizmodo reports on Apple’s newest retail store on the upper west side of Manhattan.  The article is called “Inside Apple’s Newest Temple” and in it the author writes:

I call it a temple because the architecture conveys a nearly religious aesthetic, a place to worship Apple, beyond any other Apple store you’ve ever been to. The top floor’s a vast open space, enclosed by spartan stone walls which support a massive glass ceiling. The rows of tables in the main room feel like pews.

Vincent Callebaut Architectures is designing entirely new spiritual spaces. Many of his recent designs are buildings that function as eco-technology. They integrate with the multiple environments that overlap in our cities: human, mechanical and Gaian.

Arcology Systems by Rowin Andruscavage of the University of Maryland.

The windowsills in our loft provide the perfect shelf for plants. Without this small architectural detail, we couldn’t have such happy sun-screening air-filtering companions.

Zumthor’s spa in Vals Therme opens visitors to the surrounding natural environment. Although the building is stone, it’s made of stone from the mountains nearby, although the architecture can be cavernous at points, there is always an experience of moving from the earth-core, the stone-nest out into the open nature. Even in the dead of the Swiss winter, exposure to falling snowflakes while standing in the thermal waters outside felt like a ‘greenspace’.

Patrick Blanc extends the green roof idea to the external walls of buildings.