The Bibliosphere, an administration and student services buiding at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, is both an ecological and architectural achievement. It's incredibly environmentally-friendly, and did we mention it's a giant sphere?
The Bibliosphere is focused on sustainability, with natural lighting, ventilation, and using only renewable energy sources, and consumes an amazing 50% less than German regulations require—and we imagine German environmental laws are already much more strict than those here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the SUV. [Greeen Architects [sic] via PopSci]
DISCUSSION
I don't think this thing actually exists - at least not yet. The daytime rendering looked weird to me... like your standard architechtural rendering, with the mathematically distributed pedestrians and the overly-blue sky. I checked on Google Maps and it doesn't show but that's not conclusive. Still, if you follow the Greeen Architects [sic] link at the bottom of the GizBlurb, it's only a concept. The renderings ARE photoshopped. Sorry, Giz, but this isn't real.