The darkest building on Earth: 'An angular black hole waiting to suck you in'

Sprayed with Vantablack Vbx2, a pavilion at the Winter Olympics in South Korea absorbs 99% of light. We talk to its British architect Asif Khan, who also invented the ‘selfie-building’The pistes of Pyeongchang may be blinding white with snow as theWinter Olympics kicks off in South Korea, but among the ice rinks and bobsleigh tracks stands something completely different: the darkest building on the planet. Lurking between the competition venues like an angular black hole, it looks like a portal to a parallel universe, waiting to suck unsuspecting ski fans into its vortex. But this is not the latest high-tech defence against North Korean attack. It ’s a temporary pavilion for car giant Hyundai, designed by British architectAsif Khan, using a material developed in Surrey.Described as the world ’s largest continuous “nanostructure”, the building has been sprayed with a coating ofVantablack Vbx2, a super-black material that absorbs 99% of the light that hits its surface, creating the illusion of a void.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Architecture Nanotechnology Science Art and design Culture Winter Olympics 2018 Sculpture Manufacturing sector Source Type: news