
The EWHA Womens University in Seoul, South Korea. One of Dominique Perrault's key aims as an architect is to bring harmony to the relationship between buildings and their surroundings.

Completed in 2008, the university campus attempts to fuse the urban and natural space together.

The roof of the campus doubles as a place of recreation for students.

Perrault's French National Library in Paris was completed in 1995. The building is made up of four 79-meter high towers that were designed to look like open books.

At the center of the complex lies a sunken courtyard populated with trees. "The building blends with nature," Perrault notes. "In Paris, one has the impression that the garden of the Library is at the level of the River Seine, but in fact, it is 10 meters lower.

"One almost feels that the garden was there before the building and that the Library somehow protects it," Perrault says.

"This relationship with the earth is complex, and it contradicts the usual Modernist tenets."

Berlin's Velodrome and Olympic Swimming Pool continue Perrault's sunken motif, with both structures (the swimming pool is in the background) "immersed" and flanked by an apple orchard.

Construction on the Berlin project took seven years and was completed in 1999. Perrault also designed the Olympic Tennis Center in Madrid which was built as part of the Spanish capital's 2016 Olympic bid.

Perrault also designed Madrid's Arganzuela Footbridge.

The metallic cone shape encases the structure with a walkway made from wooden slats.

The thin metal gauze allows sunlight to filter through during the day...

...and reflect electric lights at night.