The Shenzhen Natural History Museum
Located adjacent to the picturesque Yanzi Lake in the Pingshan District of Shenzhen, the new 100,000m2 facility will be a world-class natural science museum dedicated to interpreting the laws of natural evolution, showing the geographies of Shenzhen and its ecology in a global perspective, and actively advocating science. The design extends the public park network and aims to maximise access to the lush green areas throughout with a range of activities dedicated to keeping the site open and active throughout the day – from early morning jogs to late evening strolls. This gives the opportunity for residents and visitors alike to enjoy and connect with nature.

State Gallery

Like a dancing cube shimmering in titanium, the new State Gallery of Lower Austria is placed between the picturesque inner cities of Krems and Stein, and links these with the surrounding natural and river landscape. The spherical curvature and the strongly outward-projecting external walls presented a challenge: titanium shingles and glass panes were individually produced, having been calculated in 3D. Inside, light-flooded areas alternate with daylight-free levels that can be used as required. The project is a strong illustration of the capabilities of the Vorarlberg architectural practice of Marte.Marte.

РЕЙНАЛЬД ДРУХИН
LANDSCAPE MONOLITH

MONOLITH is the title of French multimedia artist Reynald Drouhin’s latest art project which consists of a series of digitally manipulated images of stunning natural landscapes. In the middle of picturesque sunsets and serene Arctic landscapes, Drouhin pastes a mysterious prismatic shape and then flips it, thus creating a mind-boggling visual effect of an otherworldly transparent object hovering in desolate locations. The entire project is an ingenious appropriation of the famous monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s film ”2001: A Space Odyssey” where mysterious dark rectangular objects (dubbed as monoliths) were scattered across the solar system by an unknown alien civilisation which seemed to guide humans along a risky interplanetary journey. Reynald Drouhin’s MONOLITH series captures exactly the double nature of Kubrick’s monoliths: the inverted shapes in the photographs seem to be a window to another dimension, a physical anomaly which distorts the nature around it, and is both menacing and inviting.