Uruguayan (and New York-based) architect Rafael Viñoly has designed what will become the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere when it is completed in 2015. Since it was launched in March 2013, the 96-storey 432 Park Avenue condominium has achieved over 1 billion USD in sales of apartments priced between 7 million USD and 95 million USD. The homes in the concrete and glass building will command views of Central Park, as well as of the Hudson and East rivers through 10 by 10 foot apertures that evoke Mies van der Rohe’s architectural compositions.

Architect Zaha Hadid has unveiled the Liquid Glacial series of tables at the inaugural exhibition for the new David Gill gallery in London’s St James. The tables, which come in clear or in colour, resemble ice formations made from clear and coloured acrylic. The geometry of the flat table tops appears transformed from static to fluid by the subtle waves and ripples evident below the surface, which seem to pour from the horizontal through a vortex that forms the table legs. The transparent acrylic material, milled and hand-polished to create their finish, amplifies this perception, adding depth and complexity through a display of kaleidoscopic refractions. The result generates a surface dynamic that inherits a myriad of colours from its context and continually adapts with the observer’s changing viewpoint. The tables represent Zaha Hadid’s application of her architectural process to the design of furniture. Known for pushing the boundaries of architecture and design, her fluid forms are informed by multiple perspectives in defiance of accepted ways of working in space. Hadid’s key architectural projects include the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany, the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome (MAXXI) and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. Hadid has lived in London since attending the Architectural Association in the 1970s. He work has been featured in several exhibitions worldwide and she has won numerous awards, including the Pritzker Prize, the Praemium Imperiale by the Japan Art Association, and the Stirling Prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Beijing-based MAD Architects have completed their Absolut Towers (nicknamed ‘Marilyn Monroe Towers’ by the locals owing to their curvaceous shapes) in Mississauga, Canada. The two residential towers (one of 56 stories and the other is 50) are located at the junction of two main streets. They feature a continuous balcony that surrounds the whole building, eliminating the vertical barriers traditionally used in high-rise architecture. The entire building rotates by different degrees at different levels, corresponding with the surrounding scenery and providing 360 degree views of nature for each residential unit. The project was recently awarded the best new building in the Americas by the Council of Tall Buildings and Habitat (CTBUH).