An interesting project, and one whose idea really appeals to me: eco-friendliness and the union of opposites, exclusive luxury goods and recycled materials.

For the new Bulgari store in Shanghai, MVRDV created a green jade façade made of brass and recycled champagne and beer bottles.

The Art Deco architecture is a nod to Shanghai itself, a blend of Eastern and Western cultures.

The panels are made of sintered green glass with a translucent effect, which looks striking.

And the gold-colored brass trim is a nod to jade jewelry.

At night, the lighting further enhances the unique texture of the glass, and it is designed to keep the façade's energy consumption to a minimum.

This is the third Bulgari store whose façade was designed by MVRDV. The Kuala Lumpur store has a marble façade with gold veining, and the one in Bangkok also combines brass and glass, but in warm yellow hues and with more emphasis on the openings.

We recently published a post about glass bricks and glass blocks and how they're enjoying a new wave of popularity, including in exterior finishes.

Here's another impressive example of them used on a facade.

It's a restaurant called Artisans Ayutthaya in Bangkok.

It's a very unusual combination of wood and glass blocks. And the whole project actually started from unsold leftover blocks that had been written off as unsellable.

In place of "mortar," a steel frame holds the blocks together, and it's clad in wood on the outside.

This creates an interesting effect, with the color of the wood reflected in the glass gaps.

The technique itself is original and, it seems, still has no equivalent.

We recently published a post about glass bricks and glass blocks and how they're enjoying a new wave of popularity, including in exterior finishes.

Here's another impressive example of them used on a facade.

The Artisans Ayutthaya restaurant in Bangkok.

It's a very unusual combination of wood and glass blocks. And the whole project actually started from unsold leftover blocks that had been written off as unsellable.

In place of "mortar," a steel frame holds the blocks together, and it's clad in wood on the outside.

This creates an interesting effect, with the color of the wood reflected in the glass gaps.

The technique itself is original and, it seems, still has no equivalent.