Image: BIG Architects
Kazakhstan has commissioned BIG Architects to build a library and cultural center in the city of Astana. The design that the firm submitted in response is shaped like a Möbius strip -- a structure that has only one side:
The building itself is a complicated juxtaposition of different ideas and concepts. It forms a spiraling circle around a strong vertical core that allows visitors to the library to move between floors. The museum’s curves form a möbius strip, so the interior becomes the exterior and back again; likewise the walls become the roof and the roof transforms back into the walls. The interior corridors are naturally daylit through geometric openings in the exterior shell, creating beautifully lit spaces perfect for reading.
To minimize cooling loads on the library, BIG Architects employed some advanced computer modeling to calculate the thermal exposure on the building envelope. Because of the warping and twisting of the exterior, some parts of the building receive more light than others. By taking that information, BIG was able to create a geometric pattern or “ecological ornament” to regulate the solar impact.
Photo gallery at the link.
Link via io9
You may not be able to travel to Kazakhstan to view the building, but you can experience the same one-sided sensation with our Möbius strip t-shirt, now on sale at the Neatorama Shop.
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Please note that BIG Architects plagiarized the design. The design was registered in the United States by Anwar Al-Mallah in 2003. BIG Architects submitted and won a prize for copyrighted work they shamelessly stole and presented as their own. Type “Mobius Building Anwar” in Google and see page 5 of the article at “ftp://ftp.formz.com/pub/formz/PDF_files/eCAADe_paper.pdf.” then you’ll see who the real Mobius Building designer is, or visit the U.S Copyright office and search for Mobius Building.
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Ugh! More Eurotrash excreta dumped on a nation ignorant of its own past. We here in East Lansing Michigan are slated to get some glass and steel monstrosity built next year, so the ignorati can fawn all over it.
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As interesting as this is it bothers me that architecture these days is less about decorating a building and more about making the building an interesting shape. Problem is we can only take so many buildings shaped like pyramids and accordians before we notice that they really all look the same. This will be the most impressive building shaped like something that isn't a building, and with that I hope it is the ultimate example of this style of architecture.
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impressive.
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So... when the night janitor finishes vacuum-cleaning the floor, he or she will also have vacuum-cleaned the ceiling? All without a break...
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