Ecca collection

Maison Hessel

The brief for Lille’s Maison Stéphane Hessel called for the design of a building which would serve three main functions: a 200-bed youth hostel, a creche for up to 70 children, and government-sponsored incubator for social and economic innovation.

©Julien Lanoo

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Swedish Pavilion - Shangai Expo

Designing the Swedish Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo was a slightly less daunting task than designing many of the other pavilions, because it had a clearly defined function. What makes these projects so difficult in general is the almost entirely open-ended nature of the brief – they have to convey something about the national character, and house an exhibition, but beyond that and the physical limitations of the site, it is possible to do anything. In the case of the Swedish Pavilion, however, there was at least a requirement to house meetings with potential trade partners, and this gave the design more of a functional programme than is customary.

Images courtesy of August Wiklund, Sweco, & Petter Eldin

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Barco Headquarters

Barco, a global provider of audiovisual solutions, has just opened its new headquarters in Kortrijk (Belgium) which will bring the company’s 1,250 Belgian employees into one location. At the centre of the 230,000 square metre site is ‘The Circle’, a landmark new building which provides a direct link between head office staff, R&D, production, and Barco’s international customer base.

© Image Jaspers-Eyers Architects - Photography by Klaas Verdru & Philippe van Gelooven

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