"Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age."

Those are the words of one undeniably great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, whose visions of harmonious design and innovating urban planning amounted to his own brand of organic architecture. We'd argue that Wright wasn't just an interpreter of his time - he was able to foresee the needs and desires of ages ahead of him. The architect is - necessarily - a visionary capable of seeing into the future.

In the spirit of architecture's fortune telling abilities, we've put together a list of our favorite contemporary designs that shed light on the future of our visual world. Behold, 14 designs that show the architecture of tomorrow.

1. Hypnotic Bridges

(Photo courtesy of NEXT Architects)

Why craft boring suspension bridges or arched overpasses when humanity is capable of building massive architectural feats like this to cross a river? The impressive, undulating design, destined to function as a pedestrian footbridge over the Dragon King Harbour River in China, is the product of NEXT Architects. The bridge design involves three individual, swirling lanes hovering over the picturesque landscape of Changsha.

The rendering won an international competition associated with a new public park in the area last year, and the project is currently under construction. “The construction with the intersecting connections is based on the principal of the Möbius ring,” states Michel Schreinemachers on the NEXT website. “On the other hand it refers to a Chinese knot that comes from an ancient decorative Chinese folk art,” John van de Water adds.

2. Rotating Skyscrapers

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This image of an 80-story skyscraper, imagined by Dynamic Architecture's David Fisher back in 2008, is a far-fetched rendering fit for Dubai's future rich and famous. Why? Because it rotates.

The enormous, towering building would have floors that move ever so slightly, completing a 360 degree rotation every 90 minutes. Forget about fighting for an east-facing apartment, the suites in Dynamic Architecture's creation would have all four cardinal directions covered. And it get's better. The building would be equipped with several giant wind turbines that generate electricity for tenants, and penthouse residents would be able to park their car at their apartments thanks to nifty lifts.

While we're not sure this design will ever actually come to fruition (it was scheduled to be up and running in 2010), it's certainly a visual feast worth ogling.

3. Indoor Parks

(Photo courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Hargreaves Associates and Citymakers)

In November of 2013, the Strelka Institute announced the winner of a two-stage international competition to design Zaryadye Park, Moscow's first new public park in over 50 years. The winner was Diller Scofidio + Renfro (in collaboration with Hargreaves Associates and Citymakers), who proposed this particularly stunning design based on a theory of "Wild Urbanism," or the concept of a "hybrid landscape where the natural and the built cohabit to create a new public space."

The park will feature four landscape typologies - tundra, steppe, forest and wetland, integrating augmented micro-climates that will enable the park to function as a public space throughout Russia’s extreme winters. Essentially, the quasi-indoor environments will involve regulated temperatures, controlled wind and simulated daylight that encourage 24/7, year-round park pleasure. As Diller Scofidio +Renfro aptly put it, "Zaryadye Park will embody the past and the future simultaneously."

4. Invisible Architecture

(Photo courtesy of stpmj)

Invisible architecture is the calling card of science fiction design, and we're happy to report that architects of today are on the case. Of course, there's South Korea's in-the-works, LED-clad Infinity Tower. CNN reported in 2013 that "the invisibility illusion will be achieved with a high-tech LED facade system that uses a series of cameras that will send real-time images onto the building's reflective surface."

But there's also the shorter, less flashy structure (pictured above) designed by New York-based architecture firm stpmj. The parallelogram-shaped barn would be made of wood and sheeted with mirror film, at a cost of $5,000. The idea is to "blur the perceptual boundary" between object and setting, according to a statement sent by the architects to The Huffington Post earlier this year. We have to say we're impressed with architects' ability to push the boundaries of what invisible really means.

5. Natural Disaster-Proof Forts

(Photo courtesy of Dionisio Gonza´lez and Yusto/Giner Gallery)

For his series "Dauphin Island," artist Dionisio Gonza´lez designed dreamlike, futuristic forts made from iron and concrete, fusing the role of artist with that of architect, engineer and urban planner. The peculiar edifices - the hybrid of a beach house, a bunker and a space ship - were designed with the residents of Dauphin Island in mind. Located off the coast of Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico, the tiny landmass is known for experiencing perpetual and catastrophic hurricanes. When a storm hits the small island of around 1,200 people, it often washes away much of the coastline, leaving residents to rebuild their homes again and again.

Gonza´lez created hypothetical blueprints for his forts, illustrating how his bulbous, concrete structures would better suit the fraught island's populous. You can learn more about the project on his website. Keep in mind, these structures are not yet slated for reality, but they certainly paint an interesting picture of what futuristic island homes could look like....Continue Reading

> via Huffington Post