Fundació Enric Miralles celebrates the late Catalan architect with an exhibition of ingenious furniture designs curated by architects Benedetta Tagliabue and Joan Roig I Duran. ‘Miralles. Perpetuum Cellular’ reveals the lesser-known aspect of Enric Miralles, which includes his manufacturing as a furnishings designer, which is collected into an exhibition for the primary time.
’I really feel Enric could be very current. And I nonetheless have a type of dialog with him. Perhaps I believe he’s taking part in what we’re doing and he already is aware of,’ mentioned architect Benedetta Tagliabue, Miralles’ long-term associate, who co-designed most of the items and who has since his dying been working to protect his legacy by way of the Fundació Enric Miralles. The inspiration’s function, Tagliabue defined, is to attach Miralles’ strategy and considering with a brand new era of architects, designers and different creatives. ‘The thought is to make the dialog go on. Enric was at all times very experimental, he had a thoughts that was by no means typical. In case you posed an issue to Enric he would at all times reply again with a shocking factor. He was particular and that’s nonetheless popping out from the paperwork you discover in his archives.’
Enric Miralles on present at Disseny Hub
The exhibition at Barcelona’s Disseny Hub contains fashions of furnishings and objects primarily created by the architect for his own residence, reproduced in collaboration with AHEC, with a choice of sustainable American hardwoods donated by AE Maderas. On show are additionally a collection of drawings and photographic collages, providing additional perception into Miralles’ artistic universe.
Miralles’ furniture design was outlined by dynamism: that is by no means a collection of static furnishings items. The gathering on show consists of shape-shifting tables whose construction conceals drawers and cupboards, or whose prime lifts to turn into one thing else. Wooden joinery and hinges are used technically and imaginatively to increase a chunk’s scope: the natural types of the ‘Lelukaappi’ shelving unit can lengthen to create a panorama or contract to turn into a comfortable refuge. The ‘Troncs’ tables characteristic a easy mechanism that enables the tables to alter in top or be collapsed utterly, whereas the ‘Estudi’ desk was a collaborative piece designed by Miralles and Tagliabue for his or her residence workplace: the big desk allowed the architects to sit down and work going through one another, and featured sensible particulars reminiscent of a slot for cables and a collection of drawers on wheels.
Even when extra conventional in its performance, Miralles’ furnishings doesn’t characterize stillness: sinuous strains and playful constructions merge the architect’s utilitarian strategy along with his intuitive artistic interpretation of conventional furnishings. Among the many items on show is the ‘Mistery’ desk, whose drawing and manufacturing directions had been discovered inside an previous pocket book and by no means realised earlier than.
The architect’s final residence in Barcelona was in an previous warehouse become an open, versatile house: inside, Miralles imagined a ‘home in movement’ and his versatile furnishings designs adopted this precept. Wanting an area the place furnishings didn’t have a longtime operate or place, he experimented with designing his personal in collaboration with native carpenters. ‘We mentioned that this was our residence and it’s not going to be revealed,’ mentioned Tagliabue. ‘You will have fewer constraints whenever you’re doing one thing for your self. You’re actually serving your self as a shopper.’
The exhibition consists of 20 items comprising picket furnishings and lighting, together with items impressed by the work of Alvar Aalto, in addition to designs for the Scottish Parliament challenge and the headquarters of the Círculo de Lectores in Madrid. Tagliabue and Roig i Duran labored with AHEC to recreate 9 of the furnishings items, which had been crafted in 4 underused American hardwood species together with purple oak, maple, cherry and tulipwood.
The exhibition is designed to recreate the non-public home of Miralles and Tagliabue, with household footage giving a glimpse into the architects’ residence. As well as, AHEC has created a video demonstrating the meticulous technique of recreating every bit of furnishings to convey Miralles’ legacy again to life. §
9 of the furnishings items had been recreated in collaboration with AHEC, that includes underused American hardwood species together with purple oak, maple, cherry and tulipwood
Architect Benedetta Tagliabue, Miralles’ associate and the engine behind the Fundació Enric Miralles. Tagliabue labored carefully with AHEC to convey again Miralles’ furnishings to life
A copy of the ‘Dolmen’ desk (1995), in contrasting American cherry and tulipwood. The desk was initially created for Tagliabue and Miralles’ own residence, and initially comprised of bolondo wooden recovered from the Icaria pergola challenge
The design of the ‘Dolmen’ desk is predicated on the idea of restaurant tables that fold vertically when not in use: outfitted with drawers to work as a desk, when the highest is lifted it could actually function a room divider
The ‘Japonès’ Stool (1992), proven right here in American purple oak, tulipwood, maple and cherry. Because the title suggests, its design was impressed by a visit to Japan that Miralles and Tagliabue took within the Nineteen Nineties, its types referencing a standard Japanese bathe stool
One other piece initially created for Miralles’ and Tagliabue’s own residence, the ‘Tropical’ desk (1994) will be adjusted to turn into a eating or espresso desk. For the exhibition, the desk was made in American purple Oak
‘Marisa’, a storage unit designed in 1992 and reproduced in tulipwood plywood. Referencing the design of journey trunks, the piece options two excessive items that, by way of a collection of hinges, can shut to hide books and different objects saved inside
The Lelukaappi shelving unit: a design on wheels that can lengthen to create a panorama or contract to turn into a comfortable refuge
Lelukaappi is made up of three articulated items of various heights, which rotate on their axes to create completely different environents inside
A element of the ‘Lelukaappi’ shelving unit, that includes a composition of American maple and American cherry veneer
The ‘Troncs’ desk (1998), designed in collaboration with Tagliabue and reproduced in American purple oak. The desk was a part of the furnishings in Miralles and Tagliabue’s home and featured a easy mechanism that enables for the place of the legs to be modified to turn into a low desk or be saved flat