Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: This Year’s Top Architecture Gets Reflective

Mirrors have had a place as a building material for a long while, from the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles to the John Hancock Tower in Boston. Speaking to the later example, the glassy material is especially popular as glazing on windows and other external walls, as a rather attractive skin. Its characteristics – luminance, transparency, and inability to deteriorate, corrode, stain or fade – make it one of architect’s most favored cladding.

Unsurprisingly, this theme came up in this year’s A+ Award finalists as well. Below, you’ll find four projects that ‘reflect’ some of the most innovative ways to build with mirrors. Take a look and browse all the winning designs in your very own copy of the 2016 A+Awards book!

Mirrors by bandesign,Ltd.
Category: Restaurants

Many people are drawn to this particular location in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, during the cherry-blossom viewing season. bandesign designed a restaurant with mirrored cladding directly in front of a row of cherry trees along the avenue.

petite vie by Fontaine/Fortin/Labelle
Category: Architecture +Art

How do you engage the passersby with the surrounding architectural landscape? Fontaine/Fortin/Labelle did with this strong form fitting installation in a passageway – the bright colors and mirrored façade make reference to forms of the Old Québec with a sort of postmodern interpretation.

Invisible Barn by stpmj
Category: Architecture +Art

stpmj designed a nearly invisible folly with a mirrored façade on a site in Sagehen Creek Field Station, in Truckee, California. Integrating art and science, the structure helps visitors ‘reflect’ in a natural environment about local issues related to sustainability.

Stadthaus Ballhausgasse / Broken mirror house by Hope of Glory – HoG architektur
Category: Multi Unit Housing – Mid Rise (5-15 Floors)

HoG architektur filled the void the historic city centre of Graz, Austria with a façade that interprets the vernacular aesthetic of the late 19th century using contemporary means: a mirror-finished, high-gloss polished stainless steel skin reflects the façades opposite, which appear in kaleidoscope-like patterns of light and shadow.

Want to own the year’s best architecture? Order your copy of the 2016 A+Awards Book today, presented by Phaidon.