5 Impressively Geometric Cube-Shaped Buildings
Perfectly symmetrical and pleasingly simple, the cube has become the artistic flex of the architecture world. London is getting a glassy “Paddington Cube” by Renzo Piano. If the Mukaab in Riyadh is ever finished, it will become the biggest cube ever built. But what’s this obsession with cubes really about? The beauty of a cube—versus a pyramid, a dome, or any other pronounced shape—is that it’s not about the form but what it’s inside of it! Here are 5 of the most interesting cube-shaped buildings.
1. BERLIN CUBE (2020)
Architect: Studio 3XN
Location: Germany
This 10-storey office block stands alongside the River Spree near the central railway station. Clad entirely in reflective glass, the cube measures 42.5 meters in all directions. Its facade is faceted with a triangulated relief pattern to create outdoor balconies for the offices on every floor within the block.
2. THE ORANGE CUBE (2011)
Architect: Jakob + Macfarlane
Location: France
Designed by French studio Jakob + Macfarlane as a design showroom, the distinctive, six-story building was wrapped in a metal skin perforated with circles of various sizes. A large conical hole punched in the facade exposes internal offices and balconies. "The project is designed as a simple orthogonal cube into which a giant hole is carved, responding to necessities of light, air movement, and views," said the studio.
3. BLLOKU CUBE (Under Construction)
Architect: Stefano Boeri Architetti
Location: Albania
Currently under construction in the Albanian capital, Tirana, the seven-story Blloku Cube will measure approximately 30 meters by 30 meters by 30 meters when it is complete. It will contain a shopping center on its two lowest floors, with five stories of office space above all wrapped in a facade made from three-dimensional aluminum triangles.
4. MUKAAB
Architect: Johnsen Schmaling Architects
Location: Saudi Arabia
The Mukaab skyscraper is set to be 400 meters high and 400 meters along its facade. The golden-coloured building will be enclosed in overlapping triangular forms, which according to the developers were informed by the modern Najdi architectural style. It will contain two million square metres of shops, cultural and tourist attractions and have an almost full-height atrium space that will contain a spiraling tower.
5. PADDINGTON CUBE
Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Location: London, UK
Renzo Piano has cut 54 stories from his stalled Paddington Pole skyscraper to create a new proposal for a "floating" glass cube on the site by London's Paddington station. Piano's new 18-story building comprises a 14-story office block raised 12 meters above a large public space. The cube would be supported by slender poles over a five-story podium containing shops and restaurants with subterranean access to a new Bakerloo line tube station.
References:
www.arcrealestate.ir
