Ecca collection

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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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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Treatment Plant

Southwest from Paris, just 1km from the Porte de Versailles and within view of the Eiffel Tower, the town of Issy-les-Moulineaux sits on the bank of the River Seine. It has undertaken a commitment that all its major buildings should be of high environmental quality, and this is evident in one new structure, with its green roof and its river frontage half hidden behind trees planted on the upper levels. It is therefore surprising at first to discover that this building in such a prime position is fulfilling the decidedly unglamorous function of a plant for sorting and treating waste.

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