Ecca collection

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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Amstelveen Theater tower

While both bigger and better - in terms of functionality - than the original 1975 edifice it replaces, the newly restored Amstelveen Theater tower is perhaps most remarkable for its shimmering golden façade, which is pimpled with regularly positioned, 13cm-deep hydroformed hemispheres.

Images courtesy of Jannes Linders

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Residential Project Praam

While its clean, rectilinear profile and abundant glazing, the Praam residential building is very much what one might expect of IJburg, an artificial archipelago on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Designed by Eindhoven-based architects Marx & Steketee, the Praam is part of a rather old-fashioned and surprisingly intimate style of urban development.

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