Ecca collection

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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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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College André Maurois

One of the driving forces in French school design and redesign has been the disastrous fire at the College Edouard Pailleron in 1973.Built to a mid century pattern common to many schools throughout the country, it was of lightweight steel construction with no fire protection. The fire spread rapidly through voids and 20 people died of whom 16 were children.   There were more than 1,000 schools in the country built in a similar way, of which 57 used the exact same technique. These became known as Paillerons and were, quite rightly, slated for improvement or replacement.

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