La Vallée Verte, Bordeaux

Final frame: La Vallée Verte, Bordeaux La Vallée Verte is a 70-home apartment complex with a crater-like central courtyard. “The crater is conceived as an excavation within a solid mass,” says its Dutch architect, MVRDV. “Concrete surfaces reinforce the sense of a carved-out landscape.” The building’s slopes and angles are designed to maximise direct sunlight throughout the year.

Photo Paul Lefevre