conceptual model 2

Detail Research

mariinsky theatre

The design wears the signature of Perrault. His favorite material – a metal mesh – floats over his favorite elements – boxes. The space in-between makes a beautiful foyer. In contrast to other projects by Perrault, here the metal mesh is not a sheet-like, delicate fabric, but blown-up to giant proportions. The tectonic ‘weaving’ of a textile never has been this big.

Earth + Mark Tower

Earth + Mark Tower par Rojkind architectes (Michel Rojkind)

Battersea Weave office building

Battersea Weave office building
Lodon, United Kingdom 2004-2010

Because of the dimensions of building’s footprint it was necessary to introduce voids within the building’s volume to enable daylight penetration. In order for this to be accomplished a geometric strategy was devised, the slight rotation of the floor plates around a number of pivot points whilst an external structural frame makes possible column free office floors. This typology generates both unique courtyards and visual connections.

CCTV Television Station and Headquarters, Beijing : OMA

The new CCTV headquarters, at a height of 230 meter and a floor area of about 400,000 square meters, combines administration with news, broadcasting, studios and program production - the entire process of TV making - in a sequence of interconnected activities. Although the building is 230 meter tall it is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections that establish an urban site rather than point to the sky.

Prada Store_ Tokyo

The Tokyo store is a strikingly unconventional 6-story glass crystal that is soft despite its sharp angles – as a result of its five-sided shape, the smooth curves throughout its interior, and its signature diamond-shaped glass panes, which vary between flat, concave and convex “bubbles”.

Jacques Herzog describes these glass panes as “an interactive optical device. Because some of the glass is curved, it seems to move as you walk around it. That creates awareness of both the merchandise and the city—there's an intense dialogue between actors. Also, the grid brings a human scale to the architecture, like display windows. It's almost old-fashioned.”



At Prada Aoyama the glass walls are not the usual transparent curtain-walling (as at Renzo Piano’s Maison Hermes, across town in the Ginza district), but a transparent, structural shell. Within, the structural cores and tubes morph seamlessly into elevators, stairs, fitting rooms and display shelves, giving a sense of continuous shopping space, very much integrated into the architecture.