Commissioned by a homeowner in the seaside town of Javea, Spain, Pantone and his team used over 130,000 one-inch ONIX tiles in just seven colors to create a stunning underwater prismatic pinwheel. Known for his work with light and color, the mosaic spectrum of blues, yellows, and reds showcases the artist’s brilliant way of melding individual pixels into a seamless rainbow of movement.

“Color only happens because of light, and light is the only reason why life happens,” Pantone writes on his website. “Light and color are the very essence of visual art. Thanks to television, computers, and modern lighting, our perception of light and color has changed completely.”

His process begins digitally as he works with various computer software to invent his designs. Then comes the manual manipulation of materials — in this case tiny colored glass tiles — to bring his kaleidoscopic vision to life. Radiating out from the very center of the pool, the colored squares flow over every inch of the floor and up and over the side walls, extending the optical illusion to its fullest degree.

The vibrant pool, which he calls the Felipe Pantone Residential project, is even more dramatic because of its juxtaposition with the starkly white modern home it’s attached to. From above, the tiled pattern appears to shift and gyrate beneath the water’s waves.

Born in Argentina, Pantone and his family moved to Spain when he was 10 years old. It was there he spent the remainder of his youth outside near the seaside stand his parents ran, finding artistic inspiration all around. “I was hanging out on the streets all day, immersing myself in the hip-hop culture, dancing breakdance, meeting graffiti artists,” he explains. Pantone eventually started making his own graffiti for fun before heading to the University of Valencia to get a degree in Fine Arts and unleashing his unique style on the world.

“I grew up as a painter, trained as a painter, and now my biggest goal is to get clear of all the academic training and to be able to make art freely, with the tools that work best,” he says.

Having grown up in a technological age when “kids unlocked life’s mysteries through the Internet,” his art is self-described as “a collision between an analog past and a digitized future, where human beings and machines will inevitably glitch alongside one another in a prism of neon gradients, geometric shapes, optical patterns, and jagged grids.”

Thanks to his bold use of color and geometry, Pantone’s aesthetic has been depicted by Forbes as “the intersection of Blade Runner and PhotoShop.”

Since his first gallery exhibition in 2006, Pantone’s bright optical illusion-like work has received global acclaim, with shows and installations in places like Paris, Mexico City, London, Italy, Palestine, Japan, and Australia. In 2017, he even painted what was at the time Portugal’s tallest mural. He’s since collaborated with international athletic brands like Reebok and Puma.

The post Felipe Pantone Dips His Signature Color Spectrum into a Residential Pool first appeared on Dornob.

Now, Masquespacio is stepping even further into the future with their newest offering in Barcelona: a Mango Teen store that’s an iconoclastic invention steeped in both the physical and digital worlds. Brimming with bright, vivid hues and expressive angles, the store echoes the color palettes commonly favored by the firm in past projects. However, in a dramatic departure from the norm, here they’ve decided to take their vision to the next level, creating a real-life/metaverse mashup where multipurpose features reign supreme.

Designed as a way to connect teens with a new “spatial identity,” the firm wanted to create an immersive store that reflected the world many young people find themselves spending increasingly more time in. As Masquespacio’s Ana Hernandez said in a recent statement, being a teen is “…a time when you start to dream big, without taking in mind the limits. [But] above in your dreams, strange things are happening that are out of the box…things that are not real.”

It is this dreamlike aura that defines the new Mango Teen store. Like a trippy multi-layered onion, its real-life layers are peeled back to reveal doorways into the metaverse a la Alice in Wonderland, beginning with the brightly-colored entrance arch, where shoppers make their backlit way into the store, and ending with a dreamy, distorted dressing room experience whose reflective surfaces and Art Deco flair creatively combine the store’s hybrid ethos. According to Masquespacio, these dressing rooms were one of the shop’s most requested features.

The store’s real-world features ground the colorful space in reality while also serving as immersive multipurpose stations. A hotel reception desk doubles as a checkout counter, a swimming pool doubles as an exhibition space, and a washing machine acts as a recycling spot where customers can donate old clothes. The distinctive decor is also meant to mimic the store’s digital/analog combo, with matte surfaces and brightly-lit reflective paneling in beautifully deliberate fashion. Elsewhere, the blending of straight and curving organic lines is a nod to Mango Teen’s inclusive message, meant to evoke an atmosphere of gender neutrality.

Masquespacio has raised the bar even higher on their colorfully creative vision with their new Mango Teen store in Barcelona. Here, reality itself is distorted and reimagined to reflect the ever-growing digital world waiting just behind the (dressing room) curtains.

The post Worlds Collide at Masquespacio’s New Mango Teen Store first appeared on Dornob.

Designed by the Catalan architecture co-op Lacol, “La Borda” was built in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona a little over a year before the pandemic hit. When Spain’s lockdowns (some of the strictest in Europe) went into effect, the communal nature of the building made it possible for residents to continue socializing in shared spaces like the kitchen, laundry, and multipurpose room, avoiding the severe isolation many in single-family dwellings experienced.

The 28-unit structure was also designed with enough flexibility to adapt to the needs of its members during a pandemic. “It was a privilege to live through COVID here,” says Cristina Gamboa, one of the two principal architects on the project and a resident of La Borda. “It showed that these spaces allow for the sort of interaction that wouldn’t be possible in a conventional apartment block. For example, the guest rooms couldn’t be used because no one was traveling, so they became workspaces.”

The idea of the cooperative development was hatched in 2011, when the abandoned Can Batlló industrial site was occupied by locals as part of a campaign to return the land to the community. The next year, a plan was formed to revitalize the area with a co-op residential building, as well as a school, bar/restaurant, publishing house, and carpentry workshop.

When the Lacol architects were tasked with creating the co-op, they outlined three fundamental principles for the project. The first was to “redefine the collective housing program” by encouraging social interaction in every corner of the design. All 28 living units, the kitchen-dining room, guest spaces, health and care rooms, storage, and patios are centered around a multi-story courtyard, providing for maximum community contact.

The second goal was to incorporate “sustainability and environmental quality.” The architects explain: “We started from the conviction that the best strategy is to reduce the initial demand of all the environmental vectors of the building (energy, water, materials, and waste), especially at the energy level, where we prioritized passive strategies to achieve maximum use of existing resources.” For example, 20 solar panels on the roof provide a quarter of the building’s energy needs.

Third, Lacol designers sought to foster user participation. The collective management of La Borda means that residents are in charge of determining the use of the space. The building is located on a piece of public land set aside for social housing that the co-op board can lease for up to 75 years. Co-op members do not own their flats and cannot sell or sublet them, emphasizing the “use value” above the “exchange value” of the units. While members do have to pay a one-time refundable fee of €18,500, the monthly rent is still 30 to 35 percent below market rates. With rents and housing prices climbing quickly, 80 percent of Spain’s 18 to 30-year-olds still live with their parents. Living spaces like La Borda would make it much more affordable for people to establish their own households. As a testament to its desirability, the co-op already has a 50-person wait list.

The Mies van der Rohe Foundation praised the design as “a role model and an active tool for promoting political and urban change from within the system, based on social, ecological, and economic sustainability.”

Lacol was awarded the honor and the €20,000 at an official ceremony on May 12th. The company adds that some of the money will be used for a celebratory dinner for the La Borda renters and those who helped make the project a reality.

The post La Borda Housing Co-Op Wins Prestigious Award for COVID-Savvy Design first appeared on Dornob.

Part of the inspiration for the peculiar shape was that “the dome is the geometry that involves the minimum surface of the material, as well as working very well structurally,” the architects explain.

The 11.5-foot rounded structure was constructed from horizontal and vertical ribs cut with CAD-CAM technologies. The exterior was then covered with strips of cream-colored upholstery foam for maximum heat capture. “The flexible condition of the material easily adapts to the igloo shape,” notes Muiño.

Strands of steel chains wrap the outside, securing the foam in place and giving the entire dwelling an air of security. The entryway is also draped with a curtain of the same chains, all remnants of previous design endeavors. “This solution made out of individual vertical elements allowed us to adapt to the arch-shaped entrance as a regular door wouldn’t be able to do,” the Barcelona-based architects said.

The inside of the igloo is a cozy winter wonderland. “The interior space has a floor at a height of 90 centimeters (three feet) where the mattress lies, all covered in a white furry carpet ready to be enjoyed barefoot,” Muiño adds. “Below this big bed, there is a space for storing, playing, or hiding.”

Everything inside sticks to the arctic theme. In addition to the polar bear-like material coating the walls, bed platform, and stairs, the arched beams are bound in more cream-colored foam, the bedding looks like swiss cheese, and the lighting gleams in ivory. There are also six globe lightbulbs placed strategically at the top of the dome, simultaneously providing the impression of gazing up to the stars at night and warming the otherwise-cold loft space.

While unconventional as a residence, living in a warehouse provides the couple the freedom and flexibility they desire for immersive designing. “The house-workshop is a 400-square-meter (4,305 square feet) space that can host the installations that we design and produce,” says Luzárraga. “At the same time, the space is being colonized by some domestic spaces that condition it for living. It’s continuously changing depending on the work that we are developing. Some of the pieces stay forever, and some of them are temporary.”

Luzárraga and Muiño founded Takk in 2008 after both earning architecture degrees in Spain. In their own words, their work focuses on “experimental and speculative practices in the intersection between nature and culture, with a particular emphasis on the overcoming of anthropocentrism.” In 2012, the team won the Konecta Foundation prize for social architecture with their “Suitcase House,” an accordion-folding emergency dwelling. In addition to their design work, which has been featured in the 13th Venice Biennale and the first Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans, the couple currently teach at several universities and institutes around their country.

The post Spanish Architects Craft a Cozy Igloo for Their Daughter’s Bedroom first appeared on Dornob.

Situated along a narrow street in the coastal town of Arenys de Mar, this three-story house has faced some significant challenges over the years. For starters, it had been forgotten by the municipal planning in the latest update, standing as a ghost of a former city plan. Then the owner’s tenant had to abandon the space to move to a nursing home, leaving it totally vacant for over a year. To top it off, leaks in the roof allowed water to filter through the three stories during this time until it all but destroyed the first floor’s wooden structure.

When the architects of Barcelona-based Twobo studio took on the refurbishment of the five-by-five meter home, they actually let these damages guide their design process.

“The water paved the way for us,” the team explains. “Sunlight filtered through the hole left by the collapse of the structure. Could it be that the solution for this small house was precisely to ‘lose’ more meters?”

The tall, skinny dwelling shares walls on three sides with other buildings, with the front facade opening onto a street less than 10 feet wide with almost no sidewalk. Adding a skylight on the third floor and expanding each stairwell allowed in more light, helping the roughly 256 square feet of each floor feel bigger than it really is. The ground floor also got boost of sunlight when the Twobo architects punched out a larger hole in the facade, lining the entire entry with oversize windows and creating a threshold that “transforms the street into part of the house.”

Next came the addition of other permanent features. A compact kitchen was installed on the lower level, with room for cooking essentials and a table with a room-wide tiled-bench that forms a banquette. The existing ceiling beams were left exposed in here to show off all their aged and well-worn glory. Patches of a former blue paint also retain their spot of honor on the ceiling as a nod to the home’s long history.

A sink was added on the second floor and the water closet was cleverly hidden in what looks like a large set of cupboards. The rest of the space on that level houses a full-size bed near a window overlooking the street. Above that, the third floor is reserved for storage, with two oversize wardrobes hung on the wall over the stairwell. The entire home was painted white, with the light, natural wood and tawny floor tiles providing accent color for a fresh and minimalist vibe.

The Twobo architecture studio was formed over a decade ago in Spain by family members Pablo and Alberto Twose and María Pancorbo. Their work has covered technical architecture, interior design services, and landscaping, as well as furniture and fixture design. Their ultimate goal is to find the “apparent simplicity” in each creative project.

The post “History of Abandonment” Guides the Restoration of This 5×5 Barcelona Home first appeared on Dornob.

The point, the architects explain, is to appeal to young people. Whether they understand the reference to Twin Peaks or not, visitors will get the sense that the space is hipper than the average dental office. Eschewing the typical bland but professional vibe, Raúl Sánchez wanted the space to feel interesting and engaging – not just an aseptic clinical setting for dental procedures, but a destination. They even built a stage area into the clinic for events, concerts, or demonstrations of Impress treatments.

The layout and design of the clinic is a response to the site’s irregular shape, which is long and narrow and only briefly makes contact with the street. A large central area acts as a waiting room while functional spaces like exam rooms, restrooms, and offices are enclosed within curving volumes. These shapes allow light to filter into the interiors and subtly reference the Impress corporate logo. Some of the walls are covered in pale blue carpeting matching the color of desks and built-in benches, with glowing lines of LED lights cutting across the ceilings.

The blood red room in the back is the focal point of the entire space. Set atop an awkward area where the top of an underground car park juts up into the clinic, the stage features four tube-shaped seats facing each other. Moody promotional images depict an employee in a white robe standing in the room like Laura Palmer waiting to whisper something bizarre into Agent Cooper’s ear. Thematically, it’s an odd choice. Many people are already creeped out by regular dentist offices, let alone those that might resemble the fever dreams of David Lynch. But visually, it’s incredibly striking, and the red shade is part of Impress’s branding, so it fits. Sort of.

“The curves dominate the space, and the existing elements (pillars) that remain in between are treated with mirrors to erase the spatial barriers and add spatial complexity through reflections,” say the architects. “The curves are lacquered in white, and the access doors to the cabinets are pine wood boxes embedded in the curves. Inside the cabinets, blue and white play in diagonal designs, which are a benchmark for the brand, and which signifies Impress’s commitment to new-generation dental clinics.”

“On the ceiling the diagonal direction is reproduced in the position of lighting and grilles. The sales spaces are resolved in blue tones, covering the walls with carpets, and executing the furniture in situ with mass-colored fiberboards. The red tones in the background are precisely a claim to convert what a priori was the most residual and dark area into the most special area of the clinic.”

The post Striking Dental Clinic References the Surreal Visuals of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” first appeared on Dornob.

Set in a country scene above a bank in Palencia, Spain, the peasant woman’s face has been disfigured into an absurdly freakish lump. Eyes in a farcically-high position are marked by two indentations, a protruding knob makes up the nose, and the lips, once pleasantly pursed, now open into a pucker.

The spoiled 1923 statue was brought to light by a Facebook post by local artist Antonio Guzmán Capel, who said it “looks like a cartoon character.” He says that after the original head fell off the statue, someone made this “masterpiece.” Whoever commissioned the restoration should be ashamed, he adds.

Guzmán Capel says the maimed face has actually overlooked the city for more than a decade, but no one seemed to notice it. Even though he lives near the office building, the resident only recently became aware of the peculiarity himself when a florist on his street mentioned it.

The newly-observed facade has drawn Twitter criticism from the Madrid-based ACRE, an organization of professional restorers and conservators, tweeting that “this is no restoration” and emphasizing that this was not a professional intervention.

Back in July, ACRE’s vice president Maria Borjas told Spanish news outlet Europa Press that these types of mutilating renewals happen all too often. “They are unfortunately much more frequent than you think,” she said. “Spain’s cultural heritage is in a fairly vulnerable situation.”

“We only know the cases that society denounces through press or social networks, but there are many situations where the works are intervened by people who are not trained,” Borjas continued. “The works suffer from such non-professional interventions and may cause irreversible change.”

One of the most infamous botched Spanish reclamation experiments was the 2012 repainting of Elías García Martínez’s Ecce Homo fresco in the town of Borja. Dating back to 1930, the image of Jesus in a crown of thorns had started to seriously deteriorate, prompting Cecilia Gomez, an 81-year-old parishioner, to attempt a repair. Her unfortunate mangling of the art has made it world-famous as the “Monkey Christ,” so unbelievably dreadful that the image is now sold on t-shirts and mugs, an even as a cross stitch on Etsy.

In 2018, a local handicraft teacher similarly endeavored to revitalize a 500-year-old sculpture of St. George housed at St. Michael’s Church in northern Spain, turning him into a “toy soldier” rather than a legendary dragon slayer. Thankfully, after the city’s $34,000 culture department project to “un-restore” the art, it has regained most of its earlier look.

Earlier this year, a private Valencia-based art collector allowed a furniture restorer to clean up a copy of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s 17th-century The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial. Displeased with the outcome, the owner insisted it be fixed. As a result, the Virgin Mary’s face is now unrecognizable from the original.

After so many instances of irrevocable art damage, ACRE’s Maria Borjas hopes that regulation regarding who can perform “cultural assets” rehabilitations will make it onto the Spanish government’s agenda soon. The one law currently on the books “does not specifically require or recommend that interventions be carried out by professionals trained in conservation-restoration. This lack of legislation leads to disastrous interventions… especially when it comes to Romanesque carvings or high-value Renaissance images.”

The post From Pleasant Peasant to Potato Head: Another Bungled Spanish Art Restoration first appeared on Dornob.

Architecture and design studio MAGICARCH thinks so. Led by María José Marcos and based in Spain, the firm has created paradigm-shifting interiors for traumatology and physiotherapy clinic Nexus8 in Murcia, southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s safe to say you’ve never seen a doctor’s office that looks quite like this.

Images of the 2,551-square-foot space call to mind theater sets, sci-fi films, and children’s playgrounds much more than they do rehab clinics. Each room features unexpected geometries and a combination of bright and pastel mood-shifting colors designed to soothe or stimulate. The designers wanted to break the stereotypes associated with conventional clinics, focusing instead on the notion of “care” and all it can look like.

It may sound like pseudoscience, but colors and emotions actually are closely linked. Though our individual perceptions of color aren’t universal, and can vary depending on our cultural backgrounds and personal experiences, studies have shown that certain colors can be linked to specific physiological reactions. Red can raise the heart rate, blue can promote relaxation, and as a combination of the two, purple can provide a balance that encourages creativity.

MAGICARCH used pink and yellow tones in the rehabilitation gym spaces on the east side of the Nexus8 clinic to evoke the colors of a sunset, which can boost the production of relaxation-inducing melatonin in the brain. The west side, where the medical consultation rooms are, was mostly painted blue in an effort to help both doctors and patients focus during medical treatment and surgery.

The designers call the resulting aesthetics “Kubrick-ish,” and if you’re familiar with director Stanley Kubrick’s work, it’s easy to see why. Futuristic elements like circular hanging lamps, bright but diffused backlighting, and dynamic interior planes are interesting to look at, but they also add functionality and encourage air convection to make the building more comfortable and sustainable. The gym features softly fringed doorways and rehab equipment that actually looks fun to use, and the examination rooms are refreshingly devoid of intimidation.

According to the firm, the design “generates the therapeutic with thermodynamic strategy, creating different atmospheres for the climatic comfort. Nexus8’s design enables metabolic architectures that rely on rehabilitation techniques based on the hormonal response of the human being. Rooms are characterized by the intensity, direction, and saturation of the light that users perceive depending on the space they are located in. This is an essential part of the chromatic design process.”

“Therefore, the clinical space is designed from a CHROMATIC AND LIGHT METABOLISM perspective, spaces are articulated through EQUIPPED DEVICES that finish completing uses and energies, and the DESIGN OF THE INVISIBLE thinks about the atmosphere, the acoustic, the thermal…as construction materials.”

Ultimately, the feel of the space is just as important as its form. Walking in feels like getting an enormous, comforting hug, translating the word “care” into a physical sensation.

The post The Form of Care: Soothing Colors Enhance a Traumatology Clinic in Spain first appeared on Dornob.

To some, this might seem like a troubling development. What does it say about modern society, that so many of us would choose to close ourselves off to our communities to enjoy our own private oases, with seemingly little care for how unfriendly they might appear from the outside? Psychologists and sociologists might have answers to those questions, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see whether this trend continues to develop in the coming years. But the truth is that many of these “introverted houses” are actually responding to environmental conditions, whether it be harsh climates or densely populated cities where privacy is hard to come by.

And while some seem to have little regard for how they fit into their neighborhoods, others retain a sense of cohesion with the local architectural vernacular, striking a better balance between privacy and interaction.

In Toledo, Spain, architecture firm OOIIO pulled off the latter with “Casa GAS.” This single-family detached residence was designed for a young couple who wanted a comfortable, bright, and unique home that was fully personalized to their needs, from the architecture all the way down to the smallest details. OOIIO oversaw not just the building design but also the interiors, including the final materials, furniture, and lighting.

With its clean lines and almost exclusive use of white, the home projects a sunny disposition that’s well matched to its Mediterranean climate, and, just as importantly, its material palette echoes those of other houses in the neighborhood. Completely walled off from the street, including all outdoor areas, the home is unquestionably inward-facing, but it doesn’t look like a hulking, antisocial bunker, either.

The architects describe the ceramic seen on the roof and within hexagonal tiles on the facade as “the protagonist” of the design, taking inspiration from the traditional patios of La Mancha. The array of hexagonal tiles on the facade is meant to mimic the way dappled light might fall upon it.

And it’s really light that makes the home special in every regard. The courtyards draw natural daylight deep into its subterranean levels, and the single coolest feature, appearing like a secret oasis in the desert, is a shimmering reflecting pool that’s partially open to the sky and partially enclosed.

The firm explains that they decided “to organize the program of the housing project that the clients needed in the most efficient and simple way possible, always around natural light. To do this, the orientation of the plot was studied and the house program was distributed by strategically placing four patios, which are four light wells, four natural ventilation distributors, alternate and distributed throughout the site.”

“Between these patios grow volumes that reach different heights depending on the function they host. Thus, the highest will be the one that corresponds to the most “noble” living-dining room area and the lowest to the garage. But the facades of the patios could not be shown like the rest of the house, they are the raison d’être of the project, the heart of its architecture, that is why we express its importance also in the materials that cover them, playing with some hexagonal ceramic pieces that highlight them and complete the composition of the entire house.”

The post A Reflecting Pool Glows at the Heart of This Urban Spanish Home first appeared on Dornob.

In 1973, Spanish Architect Ricardo Bofill stumbled upon a derelict cement factory located just outside of Barcelona that dated back to the first period of the industrialization of Catalonia. The building stood as a dilapidated reminder of the devastation that WWI brought to Europe, as it sunk into it’s crumbling structure, consumed by a harrowing emptiness and forsaken now to the aging effects of nature. Amid all the destruction and ruin, Bofill came alive with the notion of opportunity.

The Architecture

The building was erected in several stages; a series of additional structures were clearly added to the original. Incredulous in its size, Bofill and his team studied the aesthetics of the structure, noting the post war interior trends that were abundant in its architecture. Surrealism was consistent in the buildings paradoxical stairs that lead to nowhere, and abstract spaces that appeared unnecessarily vast and weirdly proportioned—though these are the same intense features that seemed to bring about a sense of phantasmagorical disproportion, a notion that Bofill found instantly endearing.

Seduced by the ambiguity of the raw and broken structure, Bofill decided to retain and modify it into his finest masterpiece yet. Featuring four kilometers of underground tunnels, machine rooms, giant silos, and a tall smoke stack, this was going to be no simple task.

From Ideation to Production

Under a kaleidoscope of avant-garde ideas, La fábrica was born. Bofill fell in love with the curious atmosphere that exuded the building and became determined to transform the hollow shell into a space worthy of continually elating his creativity, whilst also housing him and his family comfortably.

Lasting over a year and a half, the partial destruction began with using dynamite and jack hammers which consequently unveiled new spaces and hidden forms that would later become iconic features in the final product. The cement filled silos were saturated with dust, which made starting off unsurprisingly difficult—though with the help of a team of a Catalan craftsmen, the old cement factory was soon reinvented and transformed into a wealthy looking estate of functional and artistic beauty.

In the upper section of the factory, a large volume of brute cement was churned, as if by magic, into the main living area—a perfectly cubed room laced with arc windows. The “pink” room is a smaller, more intimate living area located on the middle floor, polished with a traditional Moroccan aesthetic and large fireplace dominating the space.

The ground floor hosts the kitchen and dining space, which is the pinnacle room for the family to gather. Majestically sat in the center is a rectangular marble table, balanced upon ironwork legs and encircled by Thonet chairs.

A Modern Palace

45 years later, what was once a titan of apocalyptic ruins, is now a sheer spectacle of architectural awe. La fábrica’s exterior has been woven into an illustrious garden full of vegetation and foliage, while it’s interior boasts an otherworldly modernity in it’s minimalistic styling and embellished living spaces.

“Presently I live and work here better than anywhere else. It is for me the only place where I can concentrate and associate ideas in the most abstract manner. I have the impression of living in a precinct, in a closed universe which protects me from the outside and everyday life. The Cement Factory is a place of work par excellence. Life goes on here in a continuous sequence, with very little difference between work and leisure,” says Bofill.

Though he has declared that his new home is under continuous change and improvement, the result of the masterful transformation proves that, “Function did not create the form; instead, it has been shown that any space can be allocated whatever use the architect chooses.”

The post Architect Transforms Abandoned Cement Factory into a Surreal Home first appeared on Dornob.

To illustrate this fact, Spain’s Museo del Prado has teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for a campaign called “+1.5°C Lo Cambio Todo,” or “+1.5°C Changes Everything,” referencing the news that global warming will probably reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052, leading to catastrophes like drought, extreme storms, rising sea levels, and mass extinction.

The campaign presents altered versions of four key works of art from Prado’s permanent collection. “Niños en la playa” by Joaquín Sorolla, a scene of nude boys playing on the beach, turns from playful to disturbing with the addition of dead fish. “El Quitasol” by Francisco de Goya sees a happy, sunny scene of a couple with an umbrella transported to a climate refugee camp. Instead of riding his horse safely on high ground, “Felipe IV a Caballo” by Velásquez struggles to cross high water, while the lake seen in “Paso por la Laguna Estigia” by Joachim Patinir has dried up completely.

At the both WWF website and The Smithsonian, you can use an interactive slider to view the changes in each work. All four images will also be highlighted on billboards throughout Madrid’s city center. The creators of the campaign hope to contribute to growing public awareness about the severity of the problem, and prompt immediate action to mitigate the effects.

“The joint initiative is an original way to shake up the climate change debate, engage society in the fight against this global threat, and demand urgent actions and commitment to all political actors present during the coming weeks at the UN Climate Summit,” says the WWF. “We hope that the campaign will reach every corner of the planet. This action is part of a series of planned activities and initiatives that WWF will be holding during the Climate Summit to demand a greater ambition from governments to ensure that the global temperature does not exceed an increase of 1.5ºC.”

“For the Museum, this project represents an opportunity to continue placing art and its values at the service of society,” says Javier Solana, President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum in a statement. “The symbolic value of the masterpieces and the impressive artistic recreation that we present with WWF is an excellent way to transmit to everyone, and especially to the young generations, what is really at stake in this fight against climate change.”

Still not sure exactly what’s at stake? Read more about the domino effects of warming temperatures, especially when they melt polar ice, at The Climate Reality Project.

The post Prado Museum Gives its Collection Climate Change Makeovers first appeared on Dornob.

But Dalí’s impact on pop culture is even larger than you might realize. He also designed the Chupa Chups logo, filmed commercials for chocolates, appeared on game shows, and created a special deck of tarot cards for the James Bond movie Live and Let Die.

That deck ultimately didn’t appear in the film, reportedly due to Dalí’s high fees. But he kept working on them for a decade afterward, finishing them just five years before his death in 1989. They were first published in 1984, and for a long time, the limited edition decks were almost impossible to find. Now, art book publisher Taschen has re-released them as a full 78-card set accompanied by a book by German author Johannes Fiebig.

Fiebig writes of the deck: “Dalí poses as the Magician, his wife Gala becomes the Empress, and the death of Julius Caesar is reinterpreted as the Ten of Swords in the artist’s extraordinary custom tarot deck. First published in a 1984 limited edition that has since long sold out, this lush box set brings back all 78 cards, each dazzling in color, along with a companion book on the making-of and practical instructions.”

A description of the deck on RonRobinson adds: “Legend has it that when preparing props for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, producer Albert Broccoli commissioned surrealist maestro Salvador Dalí to create a custom deck of tarot cards. Inspired by his wife Gala, who nurtured his interest in mysticism, Dalí eagerly got to work, and continued the project of his own accord when the contractual deal fell through… Drawing on Western masterpieces from antiquity to modernity (including some of his own), Dalí seamlessly combined his knowledge of the arcane with his unmistakable wit. The result is a surreal kaleidoscope of European art history.”

Richly layered, colorful, and instantly recognizable as the artist’s style, the cards reflect Dalí’s enduring love of symbolism. Some recurrent themes in his work include melting watches inspired by Einstein’s theory that time is relative; distorted, long-legged elephants that break with the laws of physics; ants symbolizing death, decay, and desire; and eggs symbolizing hope and love.

“I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly,” said Dalí himself in Dawn Ades’ Dalí and Surrealism.

The booklet includes an introduction to Dalí’s life, information about the making of the tarot cards, a comprehensive explanation of each card’s composition and meaning, step-by-step instructions on how to perform readings, and “a jargon-free approach simplifying tarot for the newcomer.”

If you love Dalí but aren’t much of a tarot enthusiast, these cards are still worth collecting just for the sheer volume of unique and creative compositions created by the beloved artist. The deck is available for preorder now for $60, with shipping expected to begin December 2019.

The post Salvador Dalí’s Full Surrealist Tarot Deck Now Available for Preorder first appeared on Dornob.

Modern eateries often concentrate on creating a scene. They want to take you back in time, propel you into the future, or even dress up the present. When CuldeSac created the design for Partiggiano in the quaint town of Paterna in Valencia, they shunned those options and came up with something unique: a gathering place with great cuisine that would stand out among the high-end restaurants and street food options.

The Challenge

The goal was to incorporate the rich Mediterranean history and architecture of the town, the iconic warmth, spirit, and quality of Italian family meals, and an aura of artistic expression tempered with a healthy dose of fun. Before it was finished, Partiggiano had been dubbed a “social foodie club.”

The Vision

Lucía del Portillo, creative director at CuldeSac Custom and Partner of CuldeSac, oversaw the design of Partiggiano. He explains that his team “wanted to revive the Mediterranean tradition of the Italian town squares, of mamma welcoming everyone to eat at a large table. From this concept came the design of a grandstand and arches. A simple atmosphere with arcades.”

Lucky for them, there was ample space to integrate it all. The main restaurant interior is 2,100 square feet, the covered terrace another 730, and the kitchen (where the real magic happens) another 1,300 still.

The Aesthetic Visualization

Melding simple, traditional, and progressive themes started with the architecture. The basic structure is simple, like an ancient village mansion that’s grand without being garish, elegant but not pretentious. And much like Italian family culture, the central grandstand of Partiggiano promotes interaction and camaraderie. The kitchen and dining room reflect Italian design traditions with covered passages, massive whitewashed walls, wrought-iron trims, rich walnut accents, pedestals, platforms, and broad partitions.

To offset the conventional influences, the back of Partiggiano is home to several universally recognized arcade games from the 1980s. But the restaurant’s pièce de résistance is the graffiti-covered walls, all of which were merrily decorated by local street artists hired to christen the oversized white spaces with their unique drawings and images.

Mission Accomplished

Partiggiano is the most unique location in Paterna’s new Heron City shopping center. Aside from its distinctive mix of architecture, art, and influences across centuries — not to mention a menu that boasts Italy’s most delectable cuisine passed down through generations — it’s a place where people of all ages can meet and actually connect.

Watching the guests at the restaurant intermingle conjures up remembrances of old stories and paintings that depicted passionate people exchanging ideas, freely expressing opinions and thoughts, and laughing with abandon at life and its many challenges. When the natural light falls on the faces of young and old so comfortably enjoying each other, the scene seems to glow like a canvas. For a brief moment, it seems like all is right with the world, and that transparency and sincerity have been reborn.

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Set on a remote mountain field overlooking the rugged landscape, the home serves as a vacation getaway, guesthouse, and showcase project for the designer, who also owns it. Yes, Jurjen van Hulzen found the 100-year-old original structure in very poor condition when he first found it, but he felt inspired by its use of vernacular materials. Seeing it in context spurred him to take on the project, envisioning all the things it could become.

“Concrete columns and steel beams were carrying a typical Ibizan ‘sabina beam’ roof,” says the firm. “A mix of the industrial structure combined with the rustic roof formed the concept for the rest of the design: an interesting play and contrast between rustic and industrial. That’s also how it’s got the name ‘Campo Loft,’ which basically means ‘industrial open living space on the field’.”

The architects preserved the traditional building structure to remain in character with typical Ibizan architecture, mixing modern and traditional materials throughout the renovation process. They laid concrete floors, added new chalk and mud plastered stone walls, and made use of “sabina beams” from trees that only grow on Ibiza. Steel accents, like those seen in the kitchen, bring in a modern element to contrast with the older surfaces.

The architects also had to bring in modern utilities like electricity, water, and sewage, but they did so with off-grid methods, using solar panels for hot water, floor heating, and electricity. The result is a self-sustainable home that feels fresh, luxe, and organic. Van Hulzen also designed a floor plan that incorporates a large open space on the south side of the building to take advantage of the views, connecting it to a generous private terrace. The bedrooms are tucked into the north corners to keep them naturally shady and cool.

The sun-dappled kitchen connects to a dining alcove illuminated by a skylight, and the bathroom features a free-standing bath with windows that can open to the living area to give bathers views of both the fireplace and the landscape beyond. Small touches like herringbone terra cotta tile floors root the home in visuals associated with its Spanish location.

The architects add: “To finish off the design, [we] have collaborated with [our] familiar project partners: 100-percent natural beds from Coco-mat, and all the furniture, lighting, curtains, and carpets are from their partner store The Modern in Amsterdam. The urban and rough steel kitchen island with marble top is from Eginstill, and the walls have been decorated with art from gallery Vroom & Varossieau. They’ve used the bath and sink from Not Only White, and the taps and shower are designed by Piet Boon from Cocoon.”

The dreamy mountain home certainly looks like the ultimate place to rest, recharge, and luxuriate in the essence of Ibiza.

The post 100-Year-Old Shed Transformed Into a Contemporary Ibiza Home first appeared on Dornob.

With their firm Cadaval & Solá Morales, the duo has collaborated on residential projects in both Mexico and Spain, creating an intercontinental portfolio of striking houses manifesting their signature blend of boldness and simplicity. Often focusing their work on challenging rural and suburban building sites like slopes, narrow plots, and ecologically sensitive areas, Cadaval & Solá Morales demonstrate that concrete can feel surprisingly natural — not to mention stunning — in all sorts of places.

Lounge MA, a small residential structure in Tepoztlán, Mexico, is a prime example. Completed in 2017, this triangular addition to a larger adjacent home is designed to complement the swimming pool and garden, creating a place of relaxation and respite from the sun. Its artificiality is broken up by an application of stone on its exterior and an explosion of vegetative growth emerging from its interior courtyard to crawl across the roof.

The firm explains that it chose concrete and stone for both Lounge MA and MA House because of its low-maintenance needs and low cost per built square meter, adding: “The house is finally drawn as the addition of three pavilions unified by a unique roof, generating two covered patios; the roof is continuous and rests on top of the structural stone walls that are the main asset of the house, the texture, a rough and imposing material that builds up the space, reinforces the views and the power of nature. The house is a sequence of open and ever-changing relations with the nature; and always, as a backstage, the two immense mountains of Tepoztlán. “

In Cabrils, Spain, the architects built a one-of-a-kind concrete residence on a rocky hillside that provides views of both the mountains and the sea thanks to its unusual shape. Cutouts on all sides of the X House essentially double its views without sacrificing interior space, and it boasts a rooftop terrace to boot. Cadaval & Solá Morales used techniques more commonly found in infrastructural projects like bridges and tunnels to anchor the home to the hillside and create its eye-catching form. The street-facing entrance is built around an old pine tree the clients wished to preserve.

Another cliffside project called Sunflower House treats individual rooms almost like telescopes, all of them jutting out from the rock to focus on specifically framed views of the Mediterranean Sea. Located in the small fishing village of El Port de la Selva, the house had to be designed to withstand winds of up to 180 kilometers (about 111 miles) per hour while also maximizing exposure to daylight in a shady location. Concrete, in this case, allows the house to act like a giant solar collector in conjunction with all the glass, “like a giant sunflower.”

Back in Mexico, the Tepoztlán Lounge uses concrete to create a sculptural form offering a communal space for a series of small villas. Though the material is known for its rigidity, it’s extraordinarily flexible in its own right. The ability to pour it into curved molds makes it easy to work around existing trees on the lot, for instance, seamlessly incorporating them into the architecture as it’s poured.

Be sure to check out more of Cadaval & Solá Morales’ work on their website.

The post Cadaval & Solá Morales Bring Concrete to Spanish, Mexican Countrysides first appeared on Dornob.

The faceted translucent exterior of the Plasencia Conference Center and Auditórium may give it an amorphous appearance from the outside, but it actually conceals a complex multi-layered floor plan full of vivid colors and dynamic spaces. The building is a contradiction in terms, appearing both organic in form and utterly alien, gleaming in all its artificiality over the rugged natural landscape. Occupying a steeply sloped plot on the side of a hill, it seems delicately balanced. Its perched position beside a retaining wall and parking lot reflects a need to impact the rocky landscape around it as little as possible — to the point where it physically juts out at one end.

The semi-translucent ETFE panels wrapped around the conference center give it the look of an enormous lantern by night, similarly producing a skin-like effect by day as visitors access its scarlet innards. Comprised of an entrance lobby, a secondary hall for 300 guests that can be divided in three, a restaurant, and exhibition halls, the building is accessible via the bright orange gangway that cuts a stark diagonal line across its facade.

“From here it is possible to move all around the central concrete shell, [going] up or down on a set of ramps and spiral stairs that mingle exterior and interior spaces,” explain the architects. “This is for two reasons, economy and expenditure. Economy by not climatizing or using glass to enclose certain parts. Expenditure due to a crossing of spaces — in-out-in on account of the mixture of their climates.”

The architects see the project as a midpoint between urban life and what’s left of the wild after human intervention. One side has been altered by our own activity, the other by only climate and wildlife. Everything that’s been touched by humanity “has covered up those millennia with the sweep of a trowel in a few years.” While it’s certainly artificial, the Auditórium aims to show maximum respect for the land, and with that goal in mind, it’s designed to be dismantled.

The space the conference center now occupies represents a preserved island of natural earth in a future expansion zone, even if it’s ultimately little more than “a small puddle in the sea” among the construction that will inevitably spring up all around it. One could argue that such a tourist-drawing development as the Auditórium can’t help but contribute to continued expansion and its negative effect on the environment, but the architects see the transition from untouched wilderness to suburban sprawl as a kind of unstoppable force. At least this way, some small part of the hillside will remain as it has always been.

The post This Angular Glowing Conference Center is All About the Environment first appeared on Dornob.