A Melbourne school is creating great industry waves for its mix of stunning architecture and environmentally responsible principles. Acting as an incredible promotion of green thinking to both the young students attending and the wider community, is the junior building at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (PEGS). While the striking building, transformed by architectural firm McBride Charles Ryan is completely passive in its design, an absolute feat in its own right, it is its aesthetic that truly stands out. Oftentimes in green building projects a building's visual appeal is ignored in order to focus on the sustainable building aspects. While environmental responsibility may be more important than design greatness, it is incredibly positive to see such a prime example of a culmination of these ideas executed so elegantly.

Rather than plunder resources, however, the Romans set about using them wisely. One such resource was the hot springs to feed public baths and underfloor heating.  Back then, the result was a beautiful form of bathing on a chilly winter's day. Nowadays, the result is tourist drawcard in the English county of Somerset known all over the world as a place called Bath. Sitting in a lovely warm bath on a cold winter's day back then, few Roman citizens would have contemplated the idea that the same concept used to heat their baths - a concept now called geothermal energy - would be widely used around the world and would be considered a serious part of a solution to stop the whole world from getting too hot. Today, however, such is the reality. In 2005, according to a GeoHeat Quarterly Bulletin published by Origin Institute of Technology, a total of 73 countries around the world produced a total of 273 petajoules (PJ) of energy using geothermal techniques. With the renewed push to achieve carbon emissions reduction in Australia, some engineers believe geothermal technology should be used more widely here.

One of London's more whimsical architecture competitions has been completed once and for all, and the much speculated 'a room for London' design concept now stands. The competition, run by Living Architecture, boasted a much lusted after brief that offered the winning design team the chance to build a room on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to act as a temporary accommodation space throughout the 2012 Olympic Games. The incredible competition, which ran throughout 2011, picked the finalist collaboration team of architectural firm David Kohn architects and Fiona Banner with their quirky and imaginative design scheme which has seen the completion of a boat-shaped living space overlooking some of the most famous London sights. The design is a reflection of the city's strong literary roots, taking its riverboat form from Joseph Conrad's  'Heart of Darkness'.

Sustainable architecture and classrooms of the future have finally come together in an Australian green building concept that is out of this world. The latest renderings of what is arguably one of world's most impressive sustainable educational facilities have been released and already they are causing a stir in both architectural and green building fields. Created by architectural firm LAVA, the aptly named 'classroom of the future' is a design concept that sees the creation of a prefabricated, relocatable learning environment, which incorporates innovative and clever design features.

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has been ardently backing a complete retrofit of all 'brown' or sustainably unfit operational buildings in this country. Which is only logical, as these buildings, particularly in the commercial sector, join together to become the largest carbon emitters in Australia. Their move to transform these unfit buildings has received a huge boost recently, with the support of Australand for their Green Star - Performance rating tool. The rating tool will become the backbone of the GBCA's work moving forward, as it will most precisely "help building owners, operators and occupants to measure and monitor the environmental impact of their buildings and take practical action to improve their buildings' performance".

Towers are marketed as iconic places to work, live, visit and simply experience. It is important that they keep up their appearance. But the maintenance and cleaning of tall buildings can be a complex and costly business for building owners. Conversely, the integration of large and unsightly building maintenance units (BMU) can potentially compromise the architectural design integrity. Modern BMU designs combine the integration of efficient, cost effective cleaning and maintenance procedures with a solution that maintains the aesthetic ambitions. The cleaning technology options are numerous; from traditional abseiling techniques to self climbing cradles and davit arms, through to monorail systems and BMU machines.

Australian architecture has had an impressive start to 2012, already boasting a globally recognised industry award. The architectural firm in question is Australia's own HASSELL who have been ranked as the number one practice in all of Australasia at this year's BD World Architecture survey. Managing Director of the firm Robert Blackhouse indicated that the achievement is a testament to the works, both nationally and internationally, that HASSELL has been producing.

Arguably one of Melbourne's most controversial construction projects has been given final approval, leaving a trail of both dismayed and jubilant responses. The major architectural redevelopment project at the focus of this almost five year long drama is the Windsor Hotel, and its semi-demolition by the Halim Group in early 2013.  The project has been marked as one of Victoria's most prominent in the latest state analysis, and comes with a sizeable price tag. The $250 million redevelopment will see the refurbishment of the interiors of the building, which was built in 1883. The interior restoration will maximise the amount of rooms available, increasing the capacity from 180 to 300 rooms. The ballroom and other rooms will also be upgraded and redeveloped, with Heritage Victoria approving everything.

In the construction and design industry, architecture is one of the most complex and multi-faceted sectors. As we have stated previously, it encompasses a whole range of broad and varying components, from mathematics to the currently trending biology. At its most basic root though, architecture deals with form. It is for this reason that architecturally designed buildings are able to become art forms as one of the industry's most artistically based facets. It only makes sense then, due to the crossover and widely varied field, that some buildings would share these sculpturally formed aspects more than others. One such building that is due for completion this year and is an example of the aforementioned form is architectural firm Zaha Hadid's Performing Arts Centre in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

It's easy to forget that urban design is not a new concept. Ancient examples of carefully-planned and designed cities exist in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, and are particularly well-known within classical Chinese, Roman and Greek cultures. The pioneer of urban planning, Hippodamus of Miletus, planned ancient cities of Rhodes, Miletus and the harbour-town Piraeus at Athens as early as the fifth century BC.  In England, many ninth century towns were designed on a grid plan, and by the twelfth century, urbanisation was seen as a means of stimulating economic growth and generating revenue throughout Western Europe. One of the earliest international contributions made by Australia to urban planning theory and practice sprang from the international competition held between 1911 and 1912 to design Australia's new federal capital, Canberra.

Architecture has traditionally incorporated a number of fields in its complex processes. From mathematics to the arts, architecture involves a highly varied skill base. But one area that has not been incorporated into architecture is biology. Until now. In recent years, the correlation between biology and architecture has aligned and the two are increasingly become more intertwined. In light of increasing carbon emissions and the rise of the green building sector, architects are becoming increasingly more innovative in their design schemes.

With the release of the federal government's newest Urban Policy Forum the green building community will feel a new found sense of confidence in the future plans for urban development in Australia. Planning for a sustainable urban community has come as a priority in the new policy, which has been influenced by a wide range of experts across different industry sectors including Chief Executive of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) Romily Madew. Upon his latest announcement, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese has assured the future planning processes will come as a culminated effort between the green building sector, government and the community in what has been labeled as an 'ideas generator'.

Queensland has seen some devastating effects as a result of natural environmental disasters such as the powerful floods they experienced at the beginning of this year. In light of the damage caused by the floods, both the federal government and Queensland state government have banded together in order to use the excess water more effectively. In the latest reports, the combined government entities plan to harness the wet season floodwaters and channel them into irrigation systems. In creating an irrigation system that puts the floodwaters to positive use, the government hopes to protect infrastructure from the effects of the environment, as well as harness the water efficiently.

In 2008, Marita Cheng identified a problem: too few girls in engineering, the field of her passion. Deciding to do something about it, Cheng and a number of her peers formed Robogirls, a student club which would set up and run LEGO robotics competitions for girls' schools around Melbourne, with teams receiving training and support in the lead up to the completion. What started from there has now grown into an organisation introducing girls to engineering in schools not just across Australia but also in England, Ireland, Holland and New Zealand.  Robogirls' success has now earned Marita the 2012 Young Australian of the Year.

Three buildings - one twenty storeys high - have collapsed in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, killing at least five people and injuring many others. The collapse occurred late on Wednesday (Rio time), near the municipal theatre on the city's Cinelandia square. The tallest of the buildings was twenty storeys high, says the city's mayor Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, whilst the second tallest had ten floors and the third had three or four. The latest developments come as Rio remains under worldwide scrutiny in the lead up to host the World Cup soccer in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics.