Ecca collection

Carcemal headquarters

Carcemal is a major textile producer which has been operating in Portugal for many years. In 2012, the company decided to completely renovate the site they had occupied since 1995. Their goal was to create a headquarters which was more in line with the company’s brand image, and to offer employees a place they would be proud to work.

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Bilbao Arena

Architectural practice ACXT admits that local geology and vegetation were both influential in the design of the striking Bilbao Arena and Sports Centre, which occupies a steeply inclined site, within a park, in the city’s central Miribilla district.

Images courtesy of Jorge Allende and Aitor Ortiz

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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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