NEW YORK ARCHITECT Stephen Valentine has a soft spot for the weird and wonderful. Condominiums, shopping malls and golf links have no place in his heart - or in his portfolio.
His list of projects includes the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, for which he was the senior architect. Chosen for the 1997 handover ceremonial event, the centre boasts both the world's tallest glass wall opening on to vistas of the harbour and a roof constructed of curved aluminium wings meant to express the idea of flight.
He also spearheaded the development of the master plan for the city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. The proposal features underground transport linking the airport with the downtown area, a bridge across the Qiantang River that divides the city, a new business district, and 'garden-like boulevards' connecting public buildings.
Valentine was also a senior architect on Washington, DC's Holocaust Memorial Museum, which opened in 1993. What next? A giant space capsule equipped with an observatory and a multiplex?
The answer is something only slightly less extravagant: a timeship. According to Valentine's puff, this US$200 million (HK$1.56 billion), six-hectare structure funded by pro-immortality groups such as the Stasis Foundation will be a fortress of life-extension research and cryo-preservation: freezing people in the hope they can be thawed and revived one day.
'Safe passage to the medical miracles of the future' will be provided for 10,000 cryo-preserved patients and a mishmash of organic human material ranging from brains to sperm and DNA. In addition, the Timeship, as it is simply known, will house extinct and endangered plant and animal species, theoretically lending the facility the status of an ark - wherever it ends up. Although building is due to begin next year, the location has yet to be chosen.