This Building Became an Aquarium

An orange fish appears to swim straight out of an apartment block in Le Mans—but the illusion began with ideas from the people who live around it.

At 7 allée Schubert in Le Mans, SWEO & Nikita have turned the gable of a residential building into a blue opening in the city. The work is called Hors cadre—roughly “Outside the Frame”—and its title tells you how to look at it. The fish, cubes, white ribbons and points of light refuse to stay inside one painted rectangle.

The real building is not hidden. Windows, wall panels and edges are pulled into the illusion. A window becomes a box inside the painted depth. Panel seams pass over fins and scales. A dark field makes the flat façade feel as if it has opened.

The Wall Stops Feeling Flat

Plein Champ’s official project page describes SWEO & Nikita as self-taught painters whose work grew from 1990s hip-hop and graffiti culture into the 3D anamorphosis for which they are now known. In an anamorphic work, painted forms are arranged to resolve from a chosen viewpoint. Move away from that line and the geometry shifts; find it again and flat shapes acquire apparent depth.

Hors cadre carries that technique across an occupied apartment block rather than a blank, purpose-built surface. Existing windows and projecting bays become part of the composition. Some seem to sit behind translucent cubes; others appear to push out through the painted space.

From the full viewing angle, the orange fish becomes the moving body at the center of the illusion. Its fins cross the edge of the turquoise box, while the painted shadows make the box appear to project from the wall.

Closer views undo part of the trick and reveal what makes it work: carefully placed highlights, deep shadows and painted planes that continue across the building’s joints.

Built in Stages

SWEO’s original image sequence preserves the making of the mural. The early view shows the dark background and turquoise structures arriving before the fish. Depth was established first: large blocks, receding planes and the glowing points that would later sit around the finished animal.

Another process image catches the fish as an outline spread across the lower blue section. At that point, the architecture of the illusion is already visible, but the main subject is still a map of lines waiting for color, scales and reflected light.

The Brief Came From the Neighborhood

This was not a design dropped onto any available wall. Hors cadre belongs to Quartier Poétique et Visuel, a project developed through public meetings, neighborhood walks and workshops involving around 200 residents. Their input produced six sets of ideas for six mural transformations.

For this façade, around twenty residents connected with Le Trait d’Unions asked for trompe-l’œil, positive qualities, a gateway into the neighborhood, conviviality, bright colors and celebration. SWEO & Nikita turned that brief into something that reads from far down the path and changes as people move closer.

In its municipal magazine, Le Mans connects the flowing white forms with contact between residents, the orange and blue with a festive mood, the translucent cubes with lightness, and the glowing points with fireflies and fireworks. The city describes the fish as an image of freedom and lightness because it appears to leave the painting itself.

Where to See It

Hors cadre was completed in May 2026 and remains listed on Plein Champ’s official mural route. It covers the gable at 7 allée Schubert, at the entrance to the Glonnières neighborhood. The changing perspective is part of the visit: the wall looks different from the path, from directly in front, and from close enough to see the building beneath the paint.

Artwork by SWEO & Nikita (5.7 Crew). Images shared by SWEO. Follow SWEO and Nikita on Instagram, and explore Plein Champ’s official page for the project.