architecture

the amazing blur building

by deputydog ⋅ 31 / 12 / 2007 ⋅ post a comment

this incredible building no longer stands but was so brilliant that it deserves another look.

resembling a huge cloud hovering just above water level at the end of a jetty, the blur building was constructed for the swiss expo in 2002 by architects diller & scofidio. the massive construction was constantly shrouded in a body of thick mist, produced by 31′500 seperate high-pressure water jets which propelled lake water droplets so small that they remained suspended for an extremely long time. the structure was controlled by a computer which constantly checked external temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction in order to adjust the water pressure and direction accordingly, also allowing the cloud’s size to be controlled at the touch of a button.

discussion

13 comments for “the amazing blur building”

  1. breathtaking! I would have loved to seen it for real!

    posted by Alice | 31st of December, 2007, 6:32 am

  2. Haha, looks like a giant bath house. I hope their is not a bunch of sweaty men in there.

    BTW - was their a functional use of the building or is it more art?

    posted by steven mandzik | 31st of December, 2007, 6:56 am

  3. Yep, it would be nice to know more about the function of the place…!

    Btw, as a Silent Hill nut, I couldn’t help but think of the misty town when I saw this. :)

    Probably not a good idea getting wet by walking through the town though, both from vapour AND blood.

    posted by Saint Splattergut | 31st of December, 2007, 8:11 am

  4. That’s amazing - where do you find pictures like this?

    What went on inside this building? Was is a museum of some sort?

    posted by Tyler @ Building Camelot | 1st of January, 2008, 11:44 am

  5. Another great post! Cheers for a great year of your blog and here’s to another year.

    (Like the redesign too, apart from the lack of a left hand margin which makes the text a little hard to read at the start of the line)

    posted by Graham | 1st of January, 2008, 12:55 pm

  6. it was an art building for the swiss expo. some kind like the world expos in zaragoza and shanghai, but just for switzerland. the theme was water and weather.

    posted by nicolas | 3rd of January, 2008, 10:47 am

  7. If it caught fire, no one would know.

    posted by Hans Moleman | 3rd of January, 2008, 9:34 pm

  8. Another nice construction for the Swiss Expo 2002 was the Monolith in Murten. Looked great standing in the lake!
    http://images.google.ch/images?q=monolith+murten

    posted by Adrian | 4th of January, 2008, 5:53 am

  9. ah memories… i was in there 6 years ago. it wasn’t as wet as one would expect, but a nice experience nevertheless. i can’t really remember if there was anything in there. i believe not, i think it was rather just some sort of sculpture.

    posted by Lux | 5th of January, 2008, 2:29 pm

  10. just visted diller & scofidio’s
    ICA building in boston and love the
    cantillever, endless into space..the blur of it all..love it

    posted by dave fredericks | 7th of January, 2008, 5:47 pm

  11. here’s some video of the expo, including this structure being blown up after the expo was over. it’s in german though. http://tinyurl.com/389ln3

    posted by compassionate monkey | 12th of January, 2008, 9:55 am


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