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Heydar Aliyev Centre
When it opens its doors to the public later this year, the Heydar Aliyev Centre is expected to play an integral role in the intellectual life of Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku, and a pivotal one in a country eager to re-establish an independent cultural identity.
Architect Zaha Hadid Architects Location Baku - Azerbaijan Company involved ThyssenKrupp Steel Website http://www.thyssenkrupp-steel-europe.com -
ROC Carolus School
The first impression of the ROC Carolus building is deceptive, and deliberately so. Passers-by and visitors see a ‘crazy’ building, a fractured and playful facade, with irregularly polygonal windows breaking up the variety of shades of grey in the prepainted metal cladding that floats above a glazed ground floor. This cladding in turn has ‘fault lines’ along it, as if the whole could shatter in an instant. It takes a moment to realise that this is disguising the fact that the building in fact consists of relatively regular blocks joined by glazing. The overall assembly is largely rectilinear, but with one end curving to a point like the prow of a ship. Far from this being an example of unexplained exuberance, careful consideration has gone into making the facade, like the rest of the building, hard working and affordable.
Architect AGS Architekten & Planners Location Nijmegen - The Netherlands Company involved Euramax Coated Products Website http://www.euramax.nl -
Maritime Centre Vellamo
A giant wave appears to rise 30 m from the waterfront in Kotka, southeastern Finland. Set in the area that has been the heart of the town since the 1870s, this is Maritime Centre Vellamo, a dominating steel structure with a multi-coloured surface that reflects and changes with the light.
Architect Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architectys Location Kotka - Finland Company involved Rautaruukki Website http://www.ruukki.com