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Aluminium Centrum
Few buildings evoke the universal response ‘how on earth does it stand up?’ but the Aluminium Centrum in Houten, the Netherlands, is one of them. A flat simple slab of a building (although not as simple as it first looks) is supported on the slenderest possible of supports coming up out of the water. On a day when the light is right, with reflections in the still water, the effect is of the tentacles of a jellyfish – not the most structurally rigid of concepts.
Architect Abbink X De Haas architectures (Micha de Haas) Location Houten - The Netherlands Company involved 3A Composites Website http://www.3acomposites.com -
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
Architect Architects 3XN Location Copenhagen - Denmark Company involved Novelis Website http://www.novelis.com -
Head office of the Parish Council
The first thing you notice when you look at the new head office of the Parish Council of São Pedro Fins in Portugal’s Oporto region is a shiny metal cube tilted onto its edge. So strong is this impression that you could come away from a cursory view of the building, believing that this is all that it consists of.
Architect Cesário Moreira Location São Pedro de Fins, Maia municipality - Portugal Company involved Elval Website http://www.elval.gr