From a monumental bull statue designed to surpass the Eiffel Tower to a utopian desert city, architects around the world are pushing the boundaries of imagination with unprecedented construction projects. These five extraordinary developments showcase the most audacious visions currently taking shape across different continents, each promising to redefine their landscapes and challenge conventional architectural thinking.
In Spain, the Spanish Academy of Bullfighting has unveiled plans for "El Toro de España" (The Bull of Spain), a colossal metal bull statue standing over 300 meters tall – higher than the Eiffel Tower. The project stems from a simple observation: France remains the world's most visited country with 90 million visitors, while Spain holds second place with 85 million, according to the World Tourism Organization. "Spain is considered one of the world's most sought-after tourist destinations for decades," states the Spanish Academy of Bullfighting. "It benefits from pleasant weather, excellent cuisine, rich culture, magnificent mountain landscapes and beaches, and famous festivals."
The academy believes Spain lacks an iconic national monument to claim the top tourism spot globally. "Spain could lead international tourism rankings, forever surpassing France, if all Spaniards, with government support, firmly believe in building our long-awaited icon, so that finally, the Eiffel Tower ceases to be the world's most visited monument," declared the Academy upon announcing the project. They argue that international tourism marketing commonly uses the Eiffel Tower's image to evoke European travel, similar to how the Statue of Liberty represents North America, the Pyramid of the Sun represents Central America, Machu Picchu represents South America, Egypt's Pyramids represent Africa, the Great Wall of China represents Asia, and Easter Island statues represent Oceania.
The engineering feat would require a sufficiently vast site to accommodate the unprecedented structure. Jorge Alvarez, president and founder of the Spanish Academy of Bullfighting, explained to Radio España that "El Toro" would need a city with high tourist traffic to guarantee economic viability and promote commercial growth and job creation throughout the area. The bull's horns would offer exceptional panoramic views to visitors, while the structure would create numerous jobs, businesses, and restaurants around the zone without drawing from state coffers, as private investors would finance the project. However, the initiative faces significant opposition, with 77% of Spanish citizens opposing bullfighting. Art critic Fernando Castro Florez told Le Figaro, "This is a case of colossal idiotism, in the classic definition of an idiot as someone who thinks they're alone in the world. If we really want to create a tourist icon, we might as well erect a giant paella pan or a monumental sangria carafe." Madrid has already rejected the proposal without stated reasons, prompting the Academy to court other municipalities, including small towns of 10,000 inhabitants.
In Crete, architects Aude Mazelin, Nikolas Alysandratos, and Xara Karatzali, collaborating with Greek firm Mykonos Architects, are developing NArrow House – a villa with an arrow-like form cutting discretely through the spectacular Greek island landscape. Located in the hills of Heraklion, this residential project integrates into a hill's curve covered with small groves. The villa features an acute-angled shape designed to harmoniously blend with the site's topography while challenging traditional Mediterranean architectural codes. From above, the future villa will appear as a slice through the landscape, between the blue water and the almost metallic appearance of its thin concrete walls.
The project derives its name from its atypical silhouette. Tapered like an arrow point carved into Cretan soil, it positions itself as an interaction between minimalist rigor and environmental sensitivity where concrete meets stone, "carving a path through the landscape with bold industrial aesthetics and clean, linear geometry," according to Mykonos Architects. Currently under construction, NArrow House should be completed between 2025 and 2027. "This dynamic design draws the eye forward, creating an impression of direction and purpose," giving the residence something stimulating that contrasts interior comfort with the grandiose view it faces.
The dwelling draws inspiration from ancient cave houses found throughout Greece, but replaces these timeless dwellings' organic curves with modern aesthetics that transform NArrow House into a villa as raw as it is avant-garde. Excavated into the ground, this cave-like habitat integrates harmoniously with its natural environment. Underground elements ensure insulation, preserving the house's natural coolness in the Mediterranean climate while prioritizing sustainability. The infinity pool at the future villa's base creates a vanishing point that absorbs the gaze into Crete's spectacular landscape. Built primarily of concrete, the residence features steel frameworks and glass bays that let in sunlight reflecting off balconies and esplanades across various levels. The interior temperature remains stable without artificial regulation systems thanks to the soil's natural action encompassing the walls. Its semi-underground character allows it to durably withstand Crete's Mediterranean climate, expected to warm in coming years, while the interior plan follows the building's linear form, creating fluidity between spaces.
In the American desert, the architectural firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) is developing Telosa, a utopian city built "from nothing" that should be completed by 2030 according to current forecasts, accommodating green spaces, flying cars, and a population of 5 million by 2050. This was already a titanic project when announced on X in 2021 – a human and energy utopia in the heart of the American desert developed by Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group, intended to be accessible to all as a springboard to bring individuals closer together and reduce inequalities in an increasingly divided society. "It was inspiring to think about the possibilities: what if, for example, you could pay the same taxes as today while benefiting from the world's best social services?" expresses the BIG team on the project's official website.
Telosa is also the largest project by Marc Lore, an American entrepreneur with degrees from Bucknell University in business management and economics. The utopian city would originally be designed to test the applicability of Equitism, a social model that places society as guarantor of everyone's rights and opportunities, maximizing people's well-being. The project revolves around ideals implemented through concrete measures. Ultimately, Telosa aims to establish itself as a "green" city by applying principles such as "100% renewable energy," "20% (versus zero) food independence," "90% reduction in water consumption," plus a "zero waste objective," "0 emissions related to autonomous mobility," and some 50 square meters of green space per person.
The city should also receive a "mobility hub" partly built from wood and designed to limit, if not replace, individual thermal vehicles, plus a "sports village" housed in a vast silver building. Everywhere, streets could be traveled by autonomous and protean vehicles, while BIG claims to be able to create a sustainable, open, just, and inclusive city, as they state on Telosa's website: "Imagine living in a city with an economic system where citizens feel connected to their land; as the city improves, their lives do too." Currently, images provided by BIG are dreamlike. Flying cars and other silver rail transports are shown hovering above the future activity hub on one side, while rails seem to float above pedestrians on the other. One of the most important buildings, an institute dedicated to Marc Lore, will feature interconnected towers bordered by green buildings evoking the vegetated buildings of cities like Singapore, where urbanization advances hand in hand with nature.
Despite enticing communication from the architectural firm, this extraordinary project's precise location remains unknown. Only certain is that it will be developed in the desert – perhaps Nevada, as the map on the firm's website suggests. Such a project evokes an increasingly flagrant trend within our societies seeking utopias. You might remember Saudi Arabia's gargantuan project The Line, the city with high mirror walls, without cars or pollution, whose construction was partially interrupted. Telosa seems to follow a movement similar to this unprecedented project, though each is on opposite sides of the world. For Telosa, Marc Lore reportedly planned over $400 billion, raising questions about the desert where the city will be built and whether local ecosystems can be preserved while Telosa commits to implementing "clear measures and strict standards to preserve natural resources and open spaces."
In Lisbon, the emblematic football club Benfica and architectural firm Populous, specializing in sports buildings, are undertaking monumental renovation of the Portuguese stadium, Estádio da Luz, for the 2030 World Cup. This is an audacious vision unveiled by Portuguese football club Benfica, based in Lisbon, for renovating the Estádio da Luz stadium first opened in 2004. More than simple work for the 2030 World Cup, the construction aims to completely overhaul the stadium's infrastructure through Populous architectural firm. Today, Benfica intends, through these transformations, to give the surrounding neighborhood a new face by welcoming new installations within the building, including world-class community spaces for supporters.
According to Populous, "This plan positions the stadium as a premier international destination for sport and entertainment, aligning it with the most promising projects of its kind worldwide, while improving the fan experience and strengthening its connection with them and the local community." The project stems from a partnership between Lisbon architectural firm Saraiva & Associados and Populous studio, who piloted the renovation plan's development in its entirety. In 2004, the construction of Estádio da Luz, a stadium in Populous's image specializing in sports project development, was already entrusted to the international firm.
Among planned additions during construction, Estádio da Luz will gain "a multipurpose indoor arena with 10,000 capacity, capable of hosting concerts, cultural events, e-sports events and major sporting events," "two ultra-modern indoor sports halls, with respective capacities of 2,500 and 1,500 seats, adaptable to basketball, volleyball, boxing and much more, replacing current pavilions and pool," "a new community pool (25 x 25 m) with modern equipment, offering a recreational resource for supporters and residents," plus "a new theater and event space accommodating up to 500 people," "an outdoor football field on the roof and athletics track, creating immersive training and fitness environments in Lisbon's heart," and finally, "commercial and residential premises."
Finally, in Albania's hills, BIG has announced an "evolutionary tree of faith" – a 200,000 square meter public park in Tirana's hills scheduled for completion by late 2026. This interfaith complex aims to position itself as a genealogical tree of faith connecting practitioners of all religions. Danish studio Bjarke Ingels, or BIG, has finally unveiled conceptual images showing what this future Interfaith Complex in Albania should look like once completed, and the images are striking. A verdant hill, Petrela hill, a valley where paths wind like branches of a gigantic tree across approximately 200,000 square meters of terrain, and pavilions with evocative cubic forms, almost reminiscent of fairy pavilions from animated film "Azur & Asmar" by French director Michel Ocelot.
According to the studio, this park is designed as a "genealogical tree of faith" whose "common origins trace back to the valley, dividing into three paths, guiding visitors through gardens, olive groves and wooded slopes to nine pavilions, each dedicated to a different spiritual tradition." This is an ambitious project, but also deeply rooted in its era – a troubled period when societies tend to forget their common origins and lose themselves in deadly conflicts. BIG studio thus announces this heterogeneous yet strangely harmonious ensemble of pavilions, themselves "framed by gardens inspired by their geographical and spiritual origins."
According to the firm, "the pavilions are built with materials such as Jerusalem limestone for Judaism; colored Italian marble for Christianity; white sandstone mosaic for Islam; and granite, onyx, marble and river-polished stone for dharmic and East Asian traditions." The Museum of Memory will be "composed of nine interconnected rammed earth volumes centered on a planted courtyard, around a central garden, celebrating diversity and unity at the park's entrance." For BIG architectural firm, it was natural that this park be organized as an "evolutionary tree of faith," focusing its spatial arrangement around three main paths. "In the Anthropocene era, where our distance from nature and our presence on the planet have become so significant and harmful, it seems necessary to return to our common roots and begin venerating our natural environment, our ecosystem, our common planet, our home," explains studio founder Bjarke Ingels.
