Ecca collection

Copenhagen aquarium "The Blue Planet"

Inspired “by the shape of water in endless motion”, Denmark’s new national aquarium, the Blue Planet, is northern Europe’s largest and most modern.

The whirlpool concept on which this unusual edifice originates is, according to Copenhagen-based architectural practice 3XN: “in a narrative about water, and as an image, is at once both abstract and figurative”. The practice also cites shoals of fish and swirling starlings for influencing the vortex-like form of the building.

Images courtesy of Adam Mõrk

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Bilbao Port Terminal

There are projects on which architects use prefabrication because they find the idea attractive, or in some way it suits their design. This was also true of the new Cruise Terminal in Bilbao, designed by architect baragaño, but it was also the only way in which it could satisfy the extremely tight programme. ‘We won the project in competition,’ explained Sergio Baragaño, ‘and it had to be completed six months’ later. The first cruise ship was due in six months.’

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China Pavilion - Shanghai Expo

One of the most striking pavilions at last year’s Shanghai Expo came, appropriately, from the home country. It was obvious immediately that it was Chinese, through both the inverted pyramid of its shape, with strong horizontals, and the bright red that is immediately reminiscent of monuments such as Beijing’s Forbidden City. The horizontals, with ends cantilevering a short distance beyond the supporting elements below, pay homage to one of the most typical forms in traditional Chinese architecture, interlocking ‘dougong’ brackets. These were always realised in timber but here, in this modern interpretation, are clad in aluminium.

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