Kengo Kuma and Associates has used 164,000 meters of aluminum chains to create this curtain that references the natural types discovered inside Barcelona‘s renovated Casa Batlló.
The intervention by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma‘s studio is a part of an intensive renovation of the home designed by the well-known Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí in 1904.
Casa Batlló has lately been absolutely restored by the Bernat household, which has owned the home for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. The undertaking additionally features a collection of the latest interventions that purpose to create an extra immersive and fascinating expertise for guests.
Kuma’s contribution adorns the atrium and a brand new staircase connecting the bottom ground with further exhibition areas created in a former coal bunker within the basement.
The curtain was produced utilizing Spanish agency Kriskadecor‘s aluminum chains and pays tribute to the symbolic use of sunshine all through the home’s distinctive inside.
It additionally envelops an emergency staircase that extends throughout the constructing’s eight floorings. Inside this in any other case darkish area, lighting developed by designer Mario Nanni displays off the steel hyperlinks to boost their shimmering high quality.
The curtain steadily modifications from a lighter shade on the high to black because it descends into the outdated coal cellar, echoing how daylight filters down via the constructing’s central courtyard.
“We have now imagined this area wearing aluminum hyperlink curtains,” mentioned Kuma, “which with their meticulous materiality catch the sunshine, as if they had been fishing nets, and present it to us in all its types: brightness, silhouettes, shadows.”
“This manner, by omitting the usage of another supply, and erasing the presence of this blind field and its staircase utilizing these chains, we’re in a position to communicate of sunshine and lightweight solely.”
The curtain is shaped of a particular person’s chain-link strands which can be suspended from the variously inclined ceilings and surfaces beneath the steps.
The pc software program used to develop the scale-like sample additionally ensured the exact positioning and size of every chain.
The staircase that descends to the newly accessible basement was designed by London-based agency Ancient & Modern. It’s produced from 13 tonnes of polished black marble that was carved on the underside to create an animalistic type paying homage to Gaudí’s personal interventions.
The brand new basement homes 2,000 sq. meters of further exhibition areas, forming half of what’s now known as the “10D Expertise”.
As a part of this endeavor to offer an unprecedented perception of Gaudí’s thoughts, audiovisual producer Miguel Alonso has created a setup comprising a dome with 1,000 screens exhibiting movies concerning the architect.
Turkish media artist Refik Anadol has additionally produced a cube-shaped setup displaying imagery and knowledge about Gaudí that was collated utilizing synthetic intelligence.
Casa Batlló was initially designed by Emilio Sala Cortés and constructed on the newly shaped Passeig de Gracia in 1877.
The home was bought in 1903 by Josep Batlló y Casanovas, who commissioned Gaudí to rework the facade, inside, and interior courtyard.
Gaudí collaborated with the perfect artisans of the time to rework the home right into a mural, utilizing wrought iron, stone, wooden, stained glass, and ceramic tiles to brighten it within the modernism model.
Earlier this yr, whereas the home was closed to the general public because of the coronavirus pandemic, native designer Max Enrich was invited to create a series of sculptural lamps for the inside.
The primary home designed by Gaudí, which can be positioned in Barcelona and is named Casa Vicens, opened to the general public for the primary time in 2017 following a serious restoration undertaking.
One of Gaudí’s most well-known initiatives within the metropolis, the Sagrada Família basilica, has been below building since 1882 and stays unfinished.
The image is by Jordi Anguera, courtesy of Kriskadecor.