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Zhang Lin has spent six years building his dream mountaintop villa – on top of a Beijing apartment block.

The eccentric professor shifted tons of rubble and rock onto the roof of the building to construct the outrageous home which looks like it has been carved from a mountainside.

The property even has a rocky mountain garden, complete with rubble and shrubbery.

However, Zhang Lin’s distraught neighbors are less than impressed with the project and fear the building is about to collapse.

The rooftop home, which never received planning approval, has caused cracks to appear in his neighbors’ ceilings and walls while some have had to put up with leaks from broken pipes and drains.

They have also been forced to live with the noise and disturbance caused from the building work.

One resident said their apartment is constantly flooded while another described the academic as a “menace”.

“This was originally a small attic when he bought it. But he tore that down and built this mountain on top of us,” said one.

Professor Zhang Lin has spent six years building his dream mountaintop villa on top of a Beijing apartment block

Professor Zhang Lin has spent six years building his dream mountaintop villa on top of a Beijing apartment block

“He’s broken drains so we’re always being flooded when it rains and there are huge structural cracks in our ceiling and walls,” they added.

“He is a menace as a neighbor and he didn’t get any permission to build this monstrosity,” said another.

Zhang Lin could now be ordered to tear down his mountain penthouse if it is deemed unsafe.

“It has come to our attention that Professor Zhang did not apply for permission for this structure. So unless he can prove it is safe, it will have to come down,” explained a city official.

China is known for its crazy design and architecture.

The Tianducheng development in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is filled with grand European buildings and wide walkways. Ornate fountains and statues also line the streets of the town.

During its construction in 2007, a replica of the Eiffel Tower standing at 108 metres was even built.

There is also a replica of a fountain from the Luxemburg Gardens in a main square called Champs Elysées.

Last year developers began building 39 Palladian mansions in a Beijing suburb at a cost of $15 million to create the country’s most expensive housing estate.

The Western-style mansions with tall columns and impressive entrances wont look out of place on a sprawling English estate.

Last month China unveiled a gigantic glowing doughnut-shaped hotel in Huzhou, near Shanghai.

The 27-storey Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, looms over the skyline offering 321 spacious guest rooms, including 44 suites and 39 villas.

It also unveiled plans to build sky-high farms – towers in Tai Po, Hong Kong, that would grow rice, fruit and vegetables on each of the levels.

China has also laid claim to the title of the world’s largest building – the The New Century Global Center in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which could 20 Sydney Opera Houses inside.

China’s new tallest building – the 2,073ft Shanghai Tower, has also just been completed in the city’s financial district.

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Residents at a luxury TriBeCa apartment block in Lower Manhattan are very furious after discovering that artist Arne Svenson, who is their neighbor at a nearby building, has secretly been taking their photographs to exhibit and sell.

Arne Svenson freely admits to secretly photographing his neighbors at the exclusive 475 Greenwich St apartment block in TriBeCa, but claims he hasn’t done anything wrong.

His photographs are careful not to show anyone’s face in full, but they do show the residents engaged in a wide range of intimate and private activities including cleaning, taking a nap, watching television and carrying their sleeping kids to bed.

The photographs are currently on display at the Julie Saul Gallery in New York as part of an exhibition called The Neighbors which opened on Saturday.

Prints are available to buy for up to $7,500 and in sizes up to 5 feet by 2 feet.

Arne Svenson freely admits to secretly photographing his neighbors at the exclusive 475 Greenwich St apartment block, but claims he hasn’t done anything wrong

Arne Svenson freely admits to secretly photographing his neighbors at the exclusive 475 Greenwich St apartment block, but claims he hasn’t done anything wrong

Residents of the Greenwich Street building – where penthouses fetch up to $6 million – are furious over what they see as an invasion of privacy and are concerned about the safety of their children.

“A grown man should not be able to photograph kids in their rooms with a telephoto lens,” resident Clifford Finn told the New York Post.

“You can argue artistic license all you want, but that’s really the issue here. I’m sorry, but I’m really bothered by this.”

A number of residents who are featured in the exhibition are understood to be considering legal action. Although they’ve been advised the may have better luck in a civil case rather than a misdemeanor criminal proceeding because their faces aren’t fully visible.

Arne Svenson, 60, who lives on the second floor of the nearby 125 Watt St building, is unapologetic.

“For my subjects, there is no question of privacy,” he said in a statement accompanying the exhibit.

“They are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high. The neighbors don’t know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs.

“I am not unlike the birder, quietly waiting for hours, watching for the flutter of a hand or a movement of a curtain as an indication that there is life within.”

Arne Svenson, whose previous exhibitions have included photos of sock puppets, was inspired to do this latest project after he inherited a bird watching telephoto lens from a friend.

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