Fungus face: Quai de la Graille, Grenoble, France by r2k architects.

If one walks in the forest and comes across a great tree with a beautiful fungus growing from the trunk, one is almost compelled to pause for a close inspection. Yet, is the fungus harming the tree...?

That same feeling came over me on sight of this building designed by r2k architects and located in the French town of Grenoble. Fascination mixed with fear for what is going on beneath.

These fungus shaped balconies are not, of course, affecting the structure of this block of 29 apartments, but on the exterior they have a big impact.

Acting as foils, the organic wooden-clad balconies contrast with the clean line of the simple white box of the building proper, transforming it from the ordinary into a thing of some beauty and dark fascination.

The timber of the balconies continues into the interiors of the apartments continuing the illusion of a building infested with tree!