Deceptively Reflective: 12 Mirrored Buildings Trick the Eye

Reflective Hanging Tree Hotel

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Nearly invisible among the branches of its forest setting in Harads, Sweden, this mirrored cube is among the lodgings offered by ‘Treehotel,’ and seems to disappear in low light. Designed by Tham & Videgard architects, it’s attached to a single tree and clad entirely in mirrored glass.

Marseille Vieux Port Pavilion by Foster + Partners

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Passersby gazed up at their own reflections in this pavilion by Foster + Partners, installed at Marseille’s Vieux Port as part of a regeneration plan aiming to get more pedestrian traffic to the World Heritage-listed site. The point of the mirrored elements is to provide a covered space without interfering too much with the spectacular visuals of the Mediterranean port, minimizing its profile to make the surroundings stand out more than the architecture.

Mirrored ‘Ring’ by Arnaud Lapierre

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‘Ring’ by Arnaud Lapierre was presented as part of the FIAC 2011 exhibits, creating a surreal sight in Paris’ Place Vendome with 4-meter-high mirrored cubes stacked in a checkerboard arrangement. Says Lapierre, “The Ring is an installation that takes into consideration the urban space networking: the rhythm, flow, organization and spatial hierarchy. The installation embodies a visual effect that is to connect all of these interactions through the implementation of an optical effect: the repetition of a cubic mirror to break the perception of the place.”