INVISIBLE ARCHITECTURE 

-MISHTI MADAN

The construction of buildings has undergone several stages along history. From the Prehistory primitive structures to the 20th century skyscrapers, there has been several ways to project, design and build. 

When climatic change has turned into a reality and it has arisen the awareness that we need to care for the planet, architects all over the world have leapt into the creation of sustainable, environmentally friendly and energy-saving buildings. In its outdoor design, these sustainable buildings look for a complete integration with the landscape, reducing visual pollution to the minimum. However, to maximize these buildings’ functionality becomes a priority, creating workspaces that stir the employee’s creativity and production through an inspiring design. This is what it is known as invisible architecture. 


” Buildings become invisible for city inhabitants. They not only blend with their surroundings and do not disturb the space in any way—they also disappear, in a way, from the cities using latest solutions and technologies.” 


HOW TO INCORPORATE INVISIBILITY IN THE BUILDING?

In many instances, invisible architectural designs incorporate a lot of mirrored glass, particularly in buildings. The idea, as the name suggests, is to make the building as invisible or inconspicuous as possible, so naturally mirrored glass plays a big role. However, sometimes it can even be matter of just using glass, so that people can see inside/straight through the building from the outside and in. 


SOME EXAMPLES!

Cairns Botanic Garden & Visitors Centre - Cairns, Queensland, Australia 

Designed to be invisible amongst the surrounding trees the Cairns Botanic Garden is a mirror –clad building, which literally reflects the surroundings in which it is set in. Drawing inspiration from the 1987 sci-fi film Predator, Architects Charles Wright used panels of reflective material each placed at slightly different angles to muddle the reflected images to simply camouflage the building. 




Palaon Research & Experience - Zurich, Germany  

The camouflaged Palaon Research & Experience centre designed by Swiss firm Architects Holzer & Kobler in collaboration with AG blends effortlessly into its stark surroundings thanks in part to its metallic mirrored skin which reflects the changing light. 

The mirrored aluminium planks, which are placed diagonally across the building, absorbs the natural light and has the unique ability to reflect 360 degrees of its natural scenery thus becoming one with its environment. 

Natural light flows into the centre via tinted windows, which are carved out of the building in sharp cuts that sprawl across the mirrored surface – it is these cuts which prevent this building from being completely invisible. 



‘Mirrorcube’ - Tree hotel - Harads, Sweden  

Nestled within the trees just 60meters for the artic circle the ‘mirrorcube’ by Tham and Videgard Architects is a lightweight mirrored structure, which reflects its surroundings and the sky above creating a camouflaged refuge. 

At only 4 meters high, and 4 meters wide and hanging 4 meters above the ground the ‘mirrorcube’, which is anchored to a single tree and clad entirely in mirrored glass reflects everything around it; the trees, the birds, the clouds, the sun, everything rendering it completely invisible which caused birds to fly directly into it. To prevent this the designers covered the walls with an infrared film which is invisible to the human eye but highly visible to birds. 

 

 

Invisible architecture doesn't just apply to buildings, however. It can also be utilized for things like privacy partitions, walkways and public sculptures. One example is the below pedestrian walkway, which is built into a body of water to create the illusion that those who walk across it are literally walking through water. It is known as the Moses Bridge, and is located in the Netherlands. 




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