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While a pink sky at night might be a shepherd’s delight, London residents were left scratching their heads last night as a mysterious pink cloud drifted over the city.

Bemused bystanders in Mayfair craned their necks to witness the strange alien-like cloud that appeared for just under an hour at around 8:30pm.

It hovered over buildings before breaking up and slowly disappearing.

Let there be light: The pink clouds drift over London

Let there be light: The pink clouds drift over London

But after dismissing theories of UFOs and atmospheric phenomenons, the Met Office said the blob was likely to be nothing more than the lights of the city reflected in a cloud.

A spokesman said: “If you have very high cloud, as we did last night, you tend to get odd splodges of low cloud that will reflect the pink or sometimes orangey-pink lights of the city from all angles and stand out from the darkness of the sky.

“It can be truly spectacular to witness.”

Did you see the mystery pink light? Let us know by leaving a reader comment at the bottom of the story.

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Pink sky at night: The mystery light drifts over a London church

Pink sky at night: The mystery light drifts over a London church

Rosy skies: The pink cloud dissipates into the night

Rosy skies: The pink cloud dissipates into the night

Daily Mail UK

yellow tree house, yellow pages treehouse, pacific environments architects ltd., tree house restaurant, natural lighting, locally sourced materials, green building

The new Yellow Treehouse Restaurant by New Zealand based Pacific Environments Architects Ltd. (PEL) is a stunning architectural feat perched high above a redwood first. Appearing for all the world like an enormous chrysalis grafted onto a 40-meter-high redwood tree, the project is constructed of plantation poplar slats, redwood balustrading milled at the site, and makes extensive use of natural lighting throughout.

yellow tree house, yellow pages treehouse, pacific environments architects ltd., tree house restaurant, natural lighting, locally sourced materials, green building

When approached by the Yellow Pages to design a treehouse, PEL jumped at the chance. “The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination,” say PEL. “It’s the treehouse we all dreamed of as children but could only do as an adult fantasy.” The project is indeed magical, located on a rise near the edge of a wood overlooking a stream. The eighteen seat cafe—10m wide and 12m high, with kitchen and lavatories on the ground—is sure to be a hit, but sustainability questions remain.

While we love the organic design of the treehouse and applaud its unique integration into the landscape, we wonder just how ‘green’ the project really is. Yes, glulam beams are often a great, renewable choice for green building with less waste and a smaller carbon footprint than steel or concrete. And when building with wood, local harvesting and milling produces the smallest footprint possible. With architectural merits like these, what’s to complain about?

yellow tree house, yellow pages treehouse, pacific environments architects ltd., tree house restaurant, natural lighting, locally sourced materials, green building

The question is an ongoing architect’s dilemma; is a client’s political, ethical, religious and/or environmental affiliation important? The Yellow Pages is a case-in-point. The treehouse project is part of a large-scale marketing effort by Yellow Pages to promote their services. The campaign includes a spokes-model, a blog, live webcam, contests, and more. Nothing wrong with a little publicity, right?

However, every year in the United States alone 500 million directories are printed—enough for nearly 2 books for every person in the country—that’s 9 million trees harvested, 1.6 billion pounds of paper consumed, 7.2 million barrels of oil spent in processing, and so on. The E.P.A. estimates that directories account for up to 5% of total landfill waste. Should this make a difference to an architect? We think it should. What do you think?

Inhabitat