Self Referential House

The Municipality of Groningen invited the Japanese architect Toyo Ito to develop a framework for the cultural manifestation Blue Moon. He worked together with four architects: Space Group, Xaveer de Geyter, Foreign Office Architects and Tony Fretton. Each of them drew up two designs; one for the Europapark (a former industrial site) and one for the inner city of Groningen, all based on Ito's master plan. In the context of this manifestation the Norwegian-based Space Group designed a building to house a day-care centre (on the first floor) and urban private dwelling (ground floor) and 70m2 roof terrace with pool. The front façade is made out of glass with half transparent textile screens, which make the building look open and closed at the same time.