SAITAMA SUPER ARENA: THREE BUILDINGS IN ONE

Depending on when you go there, the new sports and cultural facility for the Saitama Prefecture, Japan, is a 30,000-seat soccer stadium, a 20,000-seat basketball arena, or a 5,000-seat concert hall. The technology that makes these transformations possible is a unique system for moving a very large block of 9,200 seats, with related walls, floors, and spectator amenities. The block is 135 feet (41.5 meters) high and weighs 15,000 tons. In only 20 minutes it can move the 230 feet (70 meters) between the arena and stadium configurations.

DIRT-CHEAP HOUSES FROM ELEMENTAL MATERIALS

Every day, a growing number of apprentice home builders travel deep into the California desert for a chance to commune with Nader Khalili, an architect who is single-handedly trying to wean the world off of two-by-fours, steel, and concrete.

"We send our children into the world with the notion that a house must have a pitched roof, a square window and a chimney," Khalili says. "How can they ever imagine they can build something beautiful out of dirt?"

BUILDING FOR "HARMONY WITH NATURE"

The Shaklee Corporation, a major manufacturer of natural health products, has built a new corporate headquarters to reflect in architecture the company philosophy of "Products in Harmony with Nature."