Slicing breaks down the iconic Gople silhouette and scale into different dimensions and proportions to bring light indoor and outdoor, by interpreting the relationship between spaces and nature. Starting from the principles of production, energy sustainability and respect for the natural environment in which they are inserted, a series of overlapping slats interact with the light and define the body of three suspension lights two floor and one wall/ceiling elements. Slicing can accompany us as we walk about, it helps us to read the surrounding landscape in the movement, it stages the space and creates moments of rest, sharing and meeting, resulting in an experience on a human scale.

The façade is composed almost entirely of , prefabricated concrete panels interspersed with windows of various sizes to control the amount of light entering inside and to create a sense of transparency. The concrete slabs, which weigh up to . tons, are sandblasted to expose its raw qualities and to texture the surface with the local sandstone of Bordeaux. Yellow granules for brightness and warmth radiate the building in the sun and help integrate MÉCA as a familiar yet new vernacular sight to the city.

BIG was invited for a competition to design a Maritime museum inside the neighboring decommissioned dry-dock, where ships used to be built. Instead, BIG proposed to place the museum underground, just outside the wall of the dock in order to preserve the dock as an open, outdoor display, maintaining the powerful structure as the center of the Maritime Museum. By placing the museum this way, it appears as a discreet part of the cultural environment associated with the Kronborg Castle and the neighboring Culture Yard, while at the same time manifesting itself as an independent institution.

Like the monsoons, the dust storms and the mountains, the BIG Pin is also an exceptional moment, a point of reference and a mechanism to set the still landscape in motion &#; only this time through the movement of the spectator. Instead of referencing other observation towers, the Pin takes as a point of reference Frank Lloyd Wright’s celebrated Guggenheim Museum of New York. The visitor experiences the museum as a spiral motion looking inward. At the BIG Pin, the focus is reversed. Instead of a void, there is the dramatic landscape of Phoenix, Arizona.

To prove that the concept was affordable with standard techniques, BIG decided that nothing would be more convincing than building it in LEGO. It happened that on the : scale model of the building, the size of a single pixel was identical to the size of the smallest one-dot LEGO brick. The model showcased the silhouette that combines the stepped figure of the traditional spire with the rationality and rigour of a functional structure.