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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 -
Two Housing Blocks
The housing designed by Dubosc & Associes in Montargis, France, is certainly uncompromising. Clad entirely in metal, it eschews any of the conventional domestic touches but it does so in a manner that is refreshing and bright. The only punctuation to the neutral metallic colour comes from the front doors in a cheerful red, with large painted numbers, and sensibly generous vision panels. There is no chance here of forgetting where you live, and the sloping external staircases are both inviting and, argues Eric Dubosc, important places of social interaction. ‘People never talk on internal staircases,’ he says. ‘Here they are out of doors, so they talk and their children play together.’
Architect Dubosc & Associes Location Montargis - France -
Crown Metropol Hotel
Dark aluminium fins on the facade of the Crown Metropol Hotel in Melbourne, Australia play a vital but subtle role in giving a sense of excitement to a building that has to fit in a complex environment and also help define that environment. The sinuous 28-storey hotel is one of three on the city’s relatively new Crown Entertainment Complex. Sitting to one side of the complex, and linking to the entertainment facility and also to a congress centre, on one side it overlooks a relatively rundown area of small industry, ripe for regeneration.
Architect Bates Smart Location Melbourne - Australia Company involved 3A Composites (ALUCOBOND®) Website www.alucobond.com