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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Carton Levert House

A house and office in County Donegal, in the west of Ireland, make a refreshing change from much of the depressing housing that has gone up in the country in the last few decades. Responding to very specific requirements from the clients for notions of retreat and also flexibility, the buildings are uncompromisingly modern, while making deliberate references to the material palettes of local agricultural buildings.

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Copenhagen aquarium "The Blue Planet"

Inspired “by the shape of water in endless motion”, Denmark’s new national aquarium, the Blue Planet, is northern Europe’s largest and most modern.

The whirlpool concept on which this unusual edifice originates is, according to Copenhagen-based architectural practice 3XN: “in a narrative about water, and as an image, is at once both abstract and figurative”. The practice also cites shoals of fish and swirling starlings for influencing the vortex-like form of the building.

Images courtesy of Adam Mõrk

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