Inside the Fast Company website, an article by Elissaveta M. Brandon focuses on the impact of the cubic form in architecture, presenting several iconic projects, including Stefano Boeri Architetti’s Blloku Cube in Tirana, currently under construction.
Starting with the new design for the World Trade Center’s new performing arts centre – a perfect marble cube – the article presents several international examples including the Blloku Cube, developed in the Bllok district, at the intersection of the very central Rruga Pjeter Bogdani and Rruga Vaso Pasha streets.
Mainly intended for offices, the building also includes – on the ground and first floors – several spaces for commercial activities, shops and a bar, plus a restaurant on the sixth and last floor.
Planimetrically, the building is characterised by its 30 by 30 metre square shape, which generates a proto-cubic block ‘cut’ into the ground floor cantilevered on the sides facing the north-west road intersection.
The second element of strong connotation is the complex double-skin façade system: a vibrant three-dimensional mosaic of metal sheets with slight variations in colour and transparency.
Both the layout of the plan and the characteristics of the elevation bring together elements of strong plastic and figurative expressiveness with aspects of rationalisation and functional efficiency of the architectural system as a whole.
To read the full article: https://fastcompanyme.com/co-design/how-the-humble-cube-took-over-the-skyline/