Ecca collection

AV College

Look at one side of the AV College Helsinki and you appear to be studying a pixellated image of ... well, you can’t tell what, and that is a deliberate strategy on the part of the architects. Ark-House Architects, also based in Helsinki, used six different off-the-shelf colours of prepainted metal to create an almost entirely windowless facade that makes reference to the digital techniques that are happening inside this college, dedicated to audiovisual education. The practice’s Pentti Kareoja says that they considered putting in a definite image, such as a face, but decided to leave it abstract – a wise decision. ‘Now people can find their own images,’ said Kareoja.

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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.

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Refurbishment Police Academy

Architect Leon Thier talks of the unexpected silence in the 25m-high atrium, the focal point and “new heart” of the recently refurbished Apeldoorn Policy Academy building in the central Netherlands.

Images courtesy of Thea van den Heuvel

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