A nine-story glass building, shaped like a flower bud, is being built in the young scientific and industrial center of Siberia, Novosibirsk (Figure 1).

In such a harsh weather environment – where during five cold days in January the temperature can drop down to -39 degrees (C), and the difference between the day and night temperatures in March can reach 30 degrees (C) (from -15degrees to +15 degrees (C)) – such a building may seem to be very risky and unexpected. …