Darkest Building in the World

The world’s darkest (temporary) building was built for the needs of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea’s Pyongyang.

Architect Asif Khan says that when designing this building he wanted to create a window simulation to that universe. Thanks to the special color, called Vantablack VBx2, the surface of the building absorbs incredible 99,9% of the light.

The color contains nanoparticles that capture light particles, and convert them into heat. The result is an area that is so dark that it is extremely difficult to distinguish between three dimensions. The proof of this is the fact that all the pavilion walls, 10 meters long, act as a flat surface, although they are actually curved. They contain thousands of small luminaries that simulate stars in the universe.

In the pavilion there is a White room, with an installation that draws 25,000 water drops per minute. They move towards the center of the pavilion, where they merge and move away.

Vantablack color is made from “carbon nanotubes on a metal plate”, and these tubes actually prevent light from passing through them, and light is absorbed and it is simply impossible to leave that surface.

Vantablack’s color makes three-dimensional things “disappear” losing the effect of three-dimensionalism, and giving the objects a sense of “emptiness”.

Vantablack color is first used to achieve a unique optical effect in buildings in the world of architecture, but also has great potential for heating.

sources: Vantablack VBx2 and Winter Olympics Pavilion