Enough with la pollution à Paris.

"An ecological prototype of auto-sufficient, depolluting architecture reactive to its environment," this space-age Anti-Smog Innovation Center perched on Paris' Canal de l'Ourcq, designed to "absorb and recycle by photo-catalytic effect the cloud of harmful gases from the intense traffic near Paris," is the brainchild of French architect Vincent Callebaut. The concept is detailed here, with an excellent summary by Inhabitat.

There is something to be said about the challenges brought by pollution, climate change and the depletion of resources: they do generate a whole new array of breakthrough ideas.