A Building Shaped Like a Möbius Strip

Image: BIG Architects

Kazakhstan has commissioned BIG Architects to build a library and cultural center in the city of Astana. The design that the firm submitted in response is shaped like a Möbius strip — a structure that has only one side:

The building itself is a complicated juxtaposition of different ideas and concepts. It forms a spiraling circle around a strong vertical core that allows visitors to the library to move between floors. The museum’s curves form a möbius strip, so the interior becomes the exterior and back again; likewise the walls become the roof and the roof transforms back into the walls. The interior corridors are naturally daylit through geometric openings in the exterior shell, creating beautifully lit spaces perfect for reading.

To minimize cooling loads on the library, BIG Architects employed some advanced computer modeling to calculate the thermal exposure on the building envelope. Because of the warping and twisting of the exterior, some parts of the building receive more light than others. By taking that information, BIG was able to create a geometric pattern or “ecological ornament” to regulate the solar impact.

Photo gallery at the link.

Link via io9

You may not be able to travel to Kazakhstan to view the building, but you can experience the same one-sided sensation with our Möbius strip t-shirt, now on sale at the Neatorama Shop.