UNStudio is a Dutch architecture practice in Amsterdam, founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos as Van Berkel en Bos Architectenbureau. The initials stand for United Network, a reference to the collaborative, international team it draws on; it now has more than 250 staff and offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Dubai and Melbourne. Its work runs from infrastructure to houses: early projects included the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam (1996) and the Möbius House (1998), and later ones Arnhem Centraal station (2015) and the stations of the Doha Metro.
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The Galleria Department Store (West) in Seoul (2004) was given a new façade of 4,330 glass discs on its concrete skin, with a foil that gives a mother-of-pearl sheen by day and LED lights behind each disc that can be programmed at night. The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart (2006) is built on a cloverleaf of three overlapping circles around a triangular atrium; a double-helix route fits 16,500 square metres of exhibition space onto a 4,800-square-metre footprint and lets visitors switch between two tours. The Agora Theatre in Lelystad (2007) followed.
