Architecture – The ‘egg’ is an iconic shape and symbol, full of meanings and with strong mythical, religious, folkloristic and even political references in all cultures. That’s why architects across the globe couldn’t restrain themselves from creating egg-shaped building, some eye-brow some low-brow. Check what we collected.
Egg are a recurring element in Salvador Dali’s paintings and artworks. They are linked to world and perfection and are often associated to eyes and women breasts as well as to artist’s rebirth. Such idea is present in the eggs he used to decorate the outside of his house at Portlligat and Torre Galatea, at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres.
The mayor of Paris is based in a XVI century royal palace, his colleague in London goes to work in an egg on the River Thames. Hatched in 2002, the architecture by Foster + Partners was supposed to “demonstrates the potential for a sustainable, virtually non-polluting public building”. The bulbous shape was conceived to reduce the surface area and improve energy efficiency, but the excess energy consumption caused by the exclusive use of glass – in a double facade – overwhelms the benefit of shape.
Osaka’s mayor could have had his own egg too. Tadao Ando’s envisioned an egg-shaped shell within Osaka City Hall. Conceived in 1988-99, Nakanoshima Project II was never built. During the debate to determine whether to destroy or preserve 1918 historical space due to its state of decay, Ando decided to highlight the contrast between the old and the new by leaving the outline of the building intact and inserting a new oval hall inside, surrounded by an egg shell.
Few years later Ando managed to complete its egg-shaped architecture. The NagaragawaRiver International Convention Center was completed in 1995 to promote Gifu city as a good business destination.
In 2017, Shigeru Ban has completed La Seine Musicale auditorium on the banks of the River Seine in Paris. Spread over an area of 34.500 sqm the building features a wooden hull, giving an impression that it’s floating on the river. The mainsail of the building is fitted with 1,000 square meters of photovoltaic solar panels, which follow the course of the sun.
In 20017, in view of Beijing Olympics Games, French architect Paul Andreu, has inaugurated the National Centre for the Performing Arts in the Chinese capital. An artificial lake surrounds and reflects an ellipsoid dome in titanium and glass. Located between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city, the ultra modern architecture created great controversy for contrasting too much with the historical sites. The construction turned out to be much more expensive than expected. Once completed, the water and electricity bills and the cleaning and maintaining costs skyrocketed as well.
Foster + Partners‘ four-level library for the Free University of Berlin -2005 – looks like a beautifully checkered egg shell housing over 700,000 books. The staggered glass openings allow for natural ventilation and shading to help manage temperature and daylight.
“An inner membrane of translucent glass fibre filters sunlight and creates an atmosphere of concentration,” explains Norman Fosters. “Scattered window openings create changing patterns of light and shade, with momentary view of the sky and glimpses of sunlight”.
The Museum De Fundatie in Zwolle, Germany, is a Neoclassical building topped by a unique egg-shaped structure and a golden goose designed by Hubert-Jan Henket. The extension accommodates two exhibition rooms with a total surface area of almost 1,000 m². A large oval window offers a view of the historic inner city. On the outside the superstructure is clad with 55,000 white-blue tiles.
Designed in the shape of a golden egg, the building inside the Hong Kong Science Park is not a not a space age starship by the Charles K Kao Auditorium – inaugurated in 2009 and named after the Nobel Prize Phisician. [Watch the video]
James Law Cybertecture’s future-forward ovoid commercial building in Mumbai central business district has been parametrically designed to minimise solar gain and high efficiency floor plates with innovative column-less steel diagrid shell structure. Titled The Cyberarchitecture Egg, the green building will feature a rooftop garden, and sustainable green office spaces.
