Villa Hush Hush
Like a villain’s lair in some dystopian movie, ‘Villa Hush Hush’ hides among the trees when its inhabitants want to be discreet, or sends two sections telescoping into the sky to look out onto its surroundings. Support columns hidden underground push entire rooms up to 130 feet into the air. When set in nature, this weird transforming home looks like an observatory, but somehow it’s ominous in an urban environment.
Adaptable Sun Shade Facade
As heat and direct sunlight get more intense throughout the day, the perforated patterned shades on this university building in Denmark by Henning Larsen Architects respond accordingly. The facade consists of 1,600 isosceles triangles that open to varying degrees to control the amount of natural light that penetrates to the interior. Controlled by sensors that monitor heat and light levels around the building, the shades help the building meet Denmark’s energy requirements, which are among the most stringent int he world.
Rotating Photovoltaic Shade Screen
A solar-powered, mobile metal screen crawls slowly along the exterior of this circular building in Gothenburg, Sweden by Winngårdh Arkitektkontor, shading the windows along the top floor that are in direct sunlight. The building was designed to resist strong winds and self-shade each floor below the top level with its cog-wheel-inspired shape.
Cloud Seeding Pavilion
30,000 plastic balls create a dynamic facade for the ‘Cloud Seeding Pavilion’ by MODU Architects, moving within mesh fabric envelopes as the wind blows. Located outside the Design Museum Holon in Israel, the 2,500-square-foot pavilion is used to host small events, but is also an exhibition in its own right, its interior constantly shifting as the lightweight spheres create new patterns of light and shadow on the ground.
