The first stages of project development at BIG always involve a careful study of the site and the programmatic requirements. In the case of the Escher Tower, the site was an orthogonal intersection of an east-west highway and a north-south subway line, populated by a department store and a medical business. The program was identical hotel rooms with the only interesting activities to be placed in a single floor at the ground.

BIG’s design ensures that the tower apartments have optimal conditions towards sun and views. The bar units are given value through their spectacular views and direct access to the roofscapes, activating the outdoor realm. The exterior facades are developed to correspond to the different orientations and solar conditions, creating a diverse façade which varies from the viewer’s vantage point and the position of the sun.

Keen to shape buildings and cities in Southern Europe, BIG has opened its latest office in Barcelona, Spain. Located in Barcelona&#;s Las Ramblas neighborhood, the studio houses nearly BIGsters working on projects spanning from the west to the east of the Mediterranean region, most notably the HQ for Farfetch, and Fuse Valley campus in Portugal, the Joint Research Center in Sevilla for the European Commission, and the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem for Basque Culinary Center.

From the street level, a series of walls are pulled open for visitors to enter the commercial spaces from the north and south end of the buildings, while professionals enter from the front plaza into the daylight-filled lobby. Once inside, the linearity of the building façade continues horizontally: the pixel landscape of the stone planter boxes is in the same dimensions and pattern as the ripples of the building envelope.

Elements often repeat and continue from one side of the space to another to reinforce the idea of space continuity: a grid of Bulb fiction pendants designed by BIG Product across the north side, a grid of Artemide Alphabet of Light  lights around columns throughout the space & larger pill shaped lights across all meeting rooms. Each conference room is furnished with Scoop chairs designed by BIG for Halle. The color of the chairs designates the room.