Say what you will about the fiascoes leading up to the Beijing Olympics, but the event has brought along with it some amazing new architecture. Greeting visitors attending the Xicui entertainment complex near the site of the games is a 20,000 square foot wall of computer-controlled LEDs, the largest of its kind ever built. Better yet, the wall manages to power itself completely using only the sun.


The GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall, designed by Simon Giostra & Partners and Arup, uses thousands of solar capture cells attached to each of its glass panels to charge up during the day and then release dazzling light shows at night. It's the first time perforated photovoltaics laminated in glass have ever been used in a building in China, but if all goes off without a hitch, it most certainly won't be the last.


The wall is a combination of three textured panels in low-, medium-, and high-transparency glass, employed together to create a "continuous carpet" of flowing design that's actually roughly 7 feet deep. The wall will showcase low-resolution LED imagery, to help conserve energy and paint an artsy gauze on whatever does get shown.

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The project will be completed in June and will feature performance works by artists from all over the world. [Technabob]