This question may have helped Herzog & de Meuron – the architects who designed the Beijing National Stadium (dubbed “The Bird’s Nest” at the 2008 Summer Olympics), and closer to home, the bold de Young Museum in San Francisco – develop the wildly innovative design for Le Project Triangle. This is the first skyscraper to be built in Paris for three decades; the French waited to do the job in style. It’s scheduled to be completed in 2014, and as Gizmodo writes, this is “one of those buildings that make us think that we may actually drive flying cars one day.” But this will be science fact, not science fiction.

The design took my breath away. Here’s a render of how the completed building will look, viewed straight-on:

And here’s an edge-on view:

In addition to being beautiful, it’s also going to generate its own electricity using solar and wind generators. Bright idea!

With all of these innovative builds, Herzog & de Meuron are quickly climbing up my list of favorite architects.