KEY POINTS:
It looks like something from a galaxy far, far away. But it could become a reality right here on Earth.
Renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, has drawn up plans for a 44-storey sphere-shaped building as part of a "global city" on an artificial island off the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The unusual building will be the centrepiece of the city, which will be home to 1.5 million people and has been described by the New York Times as a "sprawling metropolis of repetitive buildings centred on an airport and inhabited by a tribe of global nomads with few local loyalties".
While Koolhaas says the building will be a self-contained urban neighbourhood, others, including Guardian art and architecture blogger Sean Dodson, think it looks like something "from George Lucas's drawing board" - the Death Star from Star Wars.
