Rounded Ends

Source: Flickr User: harry_nl

Educatorium, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1997 designed by OMA

The Educatorium is composed of two planes which fold to accommodate a range of distinct programs, including an outdoor plaza, two lecture halls, cafeteria and a testing facility. Planes interlock to create a single trajectory in which the entire university experience – socialization, learning, examination – is encapsulated. -- architect's web site

Source: Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra archdaily.com

Bus Station of Rio Maior, Rio Maior, Portugal, 2005 designed by Domitianus Arquitectura

It is a blade, or piece of white concrete with high-intensity plastic that solves the whole proposal, revealing an autonomous body coated by wood panels which are organized, in two different floors the area of service users. -- ArchDaily

 Source: Benthem Crouwel Architekten

Penthouse Las Palmas, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2008 designed by Benthem Crouwel Architekten

The Penthouse floats a good three metres above the Las Palmas building, held aloft on thin steel columns. This two-story office volume is rounded off vertically at the head ends, in deliberate contrast with all other buildings on Wilhelmina Pier.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Benthem Crouwel Architekten

Elicium RAI(ICA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009 designed by Benthem Crouwel Architekten

The Ballroom is a single large column-free space that may be divided up using sliding partitions. A seven-storey stack rises above the congress halls. Elicium puts the RAI in a better position to attract large multi-day international events and gives it a bold new front.  -- ArchDaily

Source: construction.com

Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel & Conference Centre, Milan, Italy, 2010 designed by King Roselli Architetti

The building is a study in contrast and fluidity. The firm devised a comblike shape with alternating room modules and external courtyards that link to an elongated spine housing lounge and circulation areas. Roselli and his colleagues chose white “pultruded” fiberglass, a pliable, pulled, and extruded membrane used in such applications as prefabricated emergency housing. Inside, King Roselli carried its bold gestures into the public areas, using arcing ribbons of plasterboard across ceilings and around walls that recall the facade's fiberglass strips, and penetrating the hotel's core with a soaring atrium.  -- Architectural Record

Source: David Adika archdaily.com

Beam House, Arbel, Israel, 2010 designed by Uri Cohen Architects

The beams of the roof rest on that ‘central concrete wall’ and serve as cantilevers to the linear roof of the living area. This keeps the northern glass façade free of columns. The circular external lines affect the interior design creating a resting bench in the living room and unique lines in the windows and walls of the private spaces. -- ArchDaily

Source: +31 Architects archdaily.com

Water Villa Omval, Amsterdam,  the Netherlands , 2010 designed by +31 Architects

Resting on the water, +31 Architects' latest residence offers a gently curving form complete with a roof terrace. According to the architects, “The split-level principle of the watervilla is accentuated by the round design of the facade.” -- ArchDaily

Source: Espaço Cidade Arquitectos archdaily.com

Center for High Performance Athletics in Jamor Lisbon, Portugal, 2010 designed by Espaço Cidade Arquitectos

The formal and volumetric aspect of the building translates its interior and the specific conditions imposed by the different modalities, resulting three volumes, one is a longitudinal volume, with 10 meters high opened to the landscape, another with variable height that projects the interior of the racing track and the last one a “box” that articulates the other two and defines the entrance. -- ArchDaily

Source: Vulkers Fotografie archdaily.com

Sports Facility Strijp, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2012 designed by LIAG architects

The structure of the complex consists of long horizontal bands that culminate in rounded edges. To help the different groups of users maintain their own distinct identity, the bands around the parts of the building used by the different groups are in their own colours. The main shape of the building is created by a flowing continuous line with curved edges. -- ArchDaily

Source: Mierta & Kurt Lazzarini Architekten archdaily.com

Sport and leisure centre Promulins, Samedan, Switzerland, 2012 designed by Mierta & Kurt Lazzarini Architekten

The dynamic and floating form of the building represents the flow and the motions of the athletes. The growing concrete slab in the north, which houses the cloakrooms, forms, through a folding at the end, the comfort for the Stübli and restaurant. -- ArchDaily

Source: Markus Bollen archdaily.com

The Tree House, Hechtel-Eksel, Belgium, 2012 designed by Baumraum

The major image of the design is a sheet of paper that is pleated and encloses both interior and exterior spaces. THE TREEHOUSE is based on five elements: two cabins on different levels, connecting terraces, a staircase and a connecting roof. -- ArchDaily