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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Cluj Arena Football Stadium

A sleek and impressive curvilinear structure now sits prominently yet comfortably amid the relatively low-level residential and commercial blocks and trees otherwise occupying the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

The new Cluj Arena, built as a symbolic contemporary landmark, is by far the largest and most overtly modern building in this culturally rich university city.

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Statoil Offices

After winning first prize in an open competition to design a new building for Norwegian energy producer Statoil, Oslo-based architectural practice a-lab found it had little time to celebrate.

Images courtesy of Luis Fonseca, a-lab and Ivan Brodey

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