Ecca collection

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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L'Orangerie

The regeneration of the Belgian steel town of Seraing, on the outskirts of Liège, began more than 10 years ago. Among the most striking of buildings to herald the municipality’s metamorphosis is the L’Orangerie, a rectilinear golden filigree-clad building occupied by CMI (Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie) and constructed by Willemen Groep company Franki.

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Kameha Hotel

You do not need to go in to the Kameha hotel in Bonn, Germany, to know that you have arrived somewhere special. Set in a curve of the Rhine in the suburb of Oberkassel, it looks across the river to some of the main elements of the city, or in the other direction to the Siebengebirge mountains. It is a low-lying building, rising only to a maximum of six floors, which makes the most of its position. Luxurious rooms enjoy magnificent views, and the entire hotel is centred on a gigantic transparent hall, that pays tribute to the great glasshouses of the 19^th Century, but using 21^st Century technology.

Images courtesy of Tomas Riehle, Köln (Germany)

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