National Stadium (Kaohsiung, Taiwan: 2009)
Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s coiled dragon of a design, with solar panels for scales, was a bold statement for sustainable design when it was inaugurated for the World Games. Nearly 75% of the building’s energy needs are met with solar power, and the woven grid of pipes calls to mind not so much a reptilian coldness but a fabric wrapped around the crowd.
Photo by Yuting Hu via Creative Commons