*️⃣Oodi Helsinki Central Library

Architect #ALA Architects
City #Helsinki
Country #Finland #EU

🔤Oodi has a peaceful open-plan reading room on the upper floor that has been nicknamed “book heaven”. Here the best characteristics of the modernist library meet the possibilities provided by 21st Century technologies. The serene atmosphere invites visitors to read, learn, think and to enjoy themselves. From this level visitors can enjoy an unobstructed 360-degree panorama view of the city centre, or step out onto the terrace overlooking Kansalaistori square.

The siting of Oodi opposite the Eduskuntatalo was chosen to be symbolic of the relationship between the government and the populace, and act as a reminder of the Finnish Library Act’s mandate for libraries to promote lifelong learning, active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression.

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Colour #white
Function #public #library
Feature #interior
Address: Töölönlahdenkatu 4, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
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text by Archdaily
pics by #Uusheimo

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*️⃣The New Zollhof

Architect #Gehry #FrankGehry
City #Dusseldorf
Country #Germany #EU

🔤This project is part of an urban intervention that reformulates a significant area and decadence of the city of Dusseldorf, this area is considered a public office and includes mainly devoted to art and communication.

The architect looked for natural ventilation of the building allowing all to be opened, as well as the provision of these windows, which together with the curved walls enhance the visual look and allow most of the offices to somehow overlook the river Rhine.

A previous architectural design competition for the site was won by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid during the early 1990s, however never commissioned.

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Colour #reflective #white
Material #steel #brick #concrete
Function #office
Feature #retro #district
Address: Neuer Zollhof 2-6, 40221 Düsseldorf, Germany
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pics by #archphotos and Wikiarquitectura
text by Wikiarquitectura

*️⃣Basque Health Department HQ

Architect #CollBarreu (Coll-Barreu)
City #Bilbao
Country #Spain #EU

🔤The new building addresses the developer’s desire to gather all staff in a recognizable place in order to make the administrative procedures easier, to increase the efficiency of the services tendered and to obtain a clearly identifiable corporate image.

The restrictive city zoning rules force to repeat the existing building typology, reducing penthousing, chamfering corners and rising a tower. A double facade solves not only zoning rules requirements but also energetic, fire-resistant and acoustic insulation ones. This duplicated plane is not just a wrapper but a volume between Bilbao and the inner space. This element allows to the building to breath. The objective of this element is introduce the mutability, the dynamic spirit of the city.

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Colour #black
Material #glass
Function #office
Address: Alameda de Recalde, 39, Abando, 48008 Bilbao, Biscay, Spain
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pics by #AleixBague
text by arquitecturaviva.com and Archdaily

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*️⃣Amazon Spheres

Architect #NBBJ
City #Seattle
Country #USA #NA

🔤Most technology companies occupy leafy campuses on the outskirts of urban areas, but Amazon has grown up in the center of Seattle and drawn much of its innovative energy from its big-city location. The giant online retailer’s new headquarters doubles down on its commitment to urban engagement, creating a neighborhood of buildings, plazas, and public open spaces that connects seamlessly with Seattle’s existing metropolitan fabric. The most iconic element is the trio of glass spheres housing a multi-level botanical garden.

Waterfalls and a pair of densely planted living walls create the sense of a jungle. To keep all of this flora happy, the climate in the Spheres is set at 22 degrees and 60 percent humidity during the day, then shifts to 12 degrees and 90 percent humidity at night.

NBBJ architects devised a steel frame made of 180 elongated pentagonal modules inspired by the work of Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan and defined by the points of five welded arches. While the frame is curved in two directions, the panes of clear, low-iron glass are flat. A ring beam at the base of the building transfers gravity, wind, and seismic forces from the glass-and-steel façade to concrete columns in the floors below and a central concrete core. The Spheres combine the mathematical and the organic, the pragmatic and the poetic.

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Material #glass
Function #office
Feature #greenery #interior
Address: 2111 7th Ave, Seattle, WA 98121, United States
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pics by Sean Airhart, #Damonte and Stuart Isett
text by Archdaily

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*️⃣Centro Niemeyer Avilés

Architect #OscarNiemeyer #Niemeyer
City #Aviles
Country #Spain #EU

🔤Following the example of cities like Bilbao, Avilés wanted to increase its touristic appeal and thus undertook a series of initiatives to recover the ria and the historic center.

The four curvilinear volumes, evoking a still life painting, occupy the large esplanade by the estuary.

Built next to the Avilés estuary, its predominantly white, modernist curvy lines contrast with the traditionally industrial landscape of the area. The centre is the first work by Niemeyer in Spain, and he had said he believes it is his most important in Europe, which is the reason for its name — Centro Niemeyer.

The collaboration between different world personalities (artists, Nobel Prize winners, United Nations meetings, etc.) made Centro Niemeyer the "Spanish cultural institution with more presence in national and international media" in 2011.

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Colour #white #mixed
Material #concrete
Function #entertainment #venue
Feature #district
Address: Av. del Zinc, s/n, 33490 Avilés, Asturias, Spain
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pics by #Malagamba and #JamesEwing
text by Arquitecturaviva and Wikipedia