FIG Projects

06/14/2026

Triangles.

François Valentiny, Tower of dreams and longings, Trier, Germany 2003.

www.valentinyarchitects.com/architecture/typology/art-culture/2003-tower-of-dreams-and-longings-trier-germany

"A landmark, more sculpture than architecture, more artwork than building. And an audacious thing, a contemporary version of the towers built by families in San Gimignano. This structure was erected on the occasion of a national garden show as a gift from the City of Luxembourg to the City of Trier. It is not just a symbol without a specific function; one can climb it and it offers views far into the distance. François Valentiny chose Corten steel as the building material, as this is a material that suggests an affinity with the earth, with natural processes. It is itself exposed to such processes, although resistant to the final stages of decay. And Valentiny chose a daring gesture, the outcome of the architect’s knowledge of present-day structural possibilities. Those who climb it engage in a kind of pilgrimage, a procession to the gods. And become him or herself a god, who lets his gaze roam across a work that is both: well made and wayward."

https://www.fig-projects.com

06/12/2026

Amateur Architecture, Xi'an Grand Theater, Xi'an , China 2025.

https://www.amarch.cn/?page_id=13573

''Xi'an Grand Theater is the first comprehensive, high-end performing arts venue in Northwest China. Located in the core area of Xi’an High-Tech Zone, it comprises four major theaters: a 1,600-seat opera house, a 1,300-seat concert hall, a 1,000-seat experimental theater, and a 300-seat rehearsal and multi-purpose hall. Together with its ancillary spaces, the complex can accommodate nearly 5,000 people.

Architect Wang Shu centers the design on the concept of “a city mirrored by mountains” (城山相映), seeking to translate the Qinling Mountains into architectural language. Variations in the roof angles echo the undulating mountain ridgelines, forming a landscape composition with an adjacent man-made lake. The exterior façade is built with a mixed masonry of glazed bricks and stone; its brick tones are drawn from the blue-green palette of Tang-dynasty landscape paintings. Using contemporary craftsmanship, the design reinterprets the imagery of Tang sancai (three-color) ceramics, allowing the building to shimmer in sunlight like a flowing, iridescent scroll of mountains and rivers. Inside, the walls employ a bamboo-textured fair-faced concrete finish, referencing the bamboo groves of Zhongnan Mountain and creating an understated, refined atmosphere."

https://www.fig-projects.com