Engineered Biotopes in Piraeus Tower

The program of the facade varies through its vertical expression. On the outside of the first two floors, the plant nursery consists of a grid of glass tubes used to nurture seedlings.  From a distance these appear as a shimmering form, reflecting light onto the street provoking the attention of the passerby.

Floors 3-22 consist of small biotopes that produce low vegetation for the workers and visitors inside the building. This system consists of a robotic crane and specially designed modules where plants are grown. The crane is connected to a computer, which re-positions the modules based on the weather conditions, sun light and water consumption. If a crop is receiving too much sunlight, the module is moved to the shade either horizontally or vertically until finding the required position.

Camouflage House

The Camouflage House sits on a steep lake bluff, its narrow, linear volume nestled into the hillside. Approaching the house from the rugged access road weaving through the site’s heavily wooded plateau, the building’s faint, low-slung silhouette virtually disappears in the surrounding vegetation. With its simple plan, restraint use of materials, and precise detailing, the house achieves an elegant clarity and a rustic warmth that nevertheless avoids bucolic sentimentality.

Cahill Center

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists who study the outer reaches of space got some space of their own with the official opening of the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The building is both highly functional and visually impressive. Everything about this building has that thought-through feel; from its address (1216, in angstroms, is the wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms) to the view from the lobby up an ever-narrowing staircase to the skylight on the third floor (which mimics the experience of peering up through a telescope) to the cut-through hallways on each floor (which connect Caltech's north and south campuses and serve to orient the building's occupants).

Kunsthaus Graz

       The Kunsthaus Graz opened its doors in 2003, the architectural pièce de résistance of Graz’s year as European Capital of Culture. The biomorphous building designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier—known locally as the Friendly Alien—has since become an attraction for art lovers and the culturally minded from all over the world. But it has also become an essential landmark in the urban identity of the city of Graz. As an exhibition centre for contemporary art, the Kunsthaus exhibits Austrian and international art from 1960 onwards. Its BIX media façade—designed by Berlin designers realities:united—constitutes a unique fusion of architecture and media technology. Effectively a large screen in the middle of the city, it acts as an instrument of art communication.

Didden Village

   The first realization in MVRDV’s hometown Rotterdam is a rooftop house extension. On top of an existing monumental house and atelier, the bedrooms are positioned as separate houses, optimizing the privacy of every member of the family. The houses are distributed in such a way that a series of plazas, streets and alleys appear as a mini-village on top of the building. Parapet walls with windows surround the new village. Trees, tables, open-air showers and benches are added, optimizing the rooftop life. By finishing all elements with a blue poly-urethane coating a new “heaven” appears. It creates a crown on top of the monument. The addition can be seen as a prototype for a further densification of the old and existing city. It adds a roof life to the city. It explores the costs for the beams, infrastructure, and extra finishes, and it ultimately aims to be lower than the equivalent ground price.