The Glass Bubble - Malmö, Sweden
Design: Monika Gora

The Swedish architect and landscape designer Monika Gora prefers to work in urban spaces, linking the environment with artistic dialogue. Temporary exhibitions in Berlin, Vienna and Tokyo have shown her works, large organic and luminous structures that often take on a challenge. The project realised in Malmö in 2005-2006 was definitely in this category. She had to create a landscape in the middle of the common area of a building near the Öresund Strait, a location particularly exposed to violent winds and the sea air. She designed a protective membrane against the rigours of the Nordic climate, an oblong transparent sculptural bubble, imprisoning the sunlight and reflecting it in the interior garden. The space created becomes a protective cocoon full of life and warmth, with temperature control so that exotic plants can be grown.

The engineers of the Dutch firm Octatube Space Structures, in charge of implementation, remark that this apparently simply project is exceptional not only for its form, but also for its technical aspects. The steel structural elements, cut using lasers and domed to obtain double curve geometry, support dual panels of 8 mm clear safety glass attached using spider fixings. The decision to use only flat glass was taken at the very beginning of the project for economic reasons, "the challenge was to develop the geometry for the glazed panels that followed as closely as possible the original shape". The architect then developed a surface made up of quadrangular panels, starting with the highest point of the structure and working the surface in two divisions. To adjust the overall structure, the fixings (all different) were cut individually. The technical resources used (notably the 3D modelling) and new generation materials made this project possible.