Kengo Kuma & Associates

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)

New Interior for Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium 

Kengo Kuma & Associates

PRODUCTS USED IN THIS PROJECT METAL FABRIC
Decorative Interior Walls Kriskadecor

METAL FABRIC
Decorative Interior Walls

MANUFACTURERS
Kriskadecor, Chesneys Architectural

CLIENTS
Casa Batlló S.l.u.

PROJECT MANAGMENT
Casa Batlló

DESIGN TEAM
Javier Villar, Jaime Fernández Calvache, Gorka Beita Zarandona, David Minton Albero, Mila Dimitrovska, Kimio Suzuki (Cg)

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Spain, Barcelona

CATEGORIES
Installation, Temporary Installations

Casa Batlló is a homage to the light of the Mediterranean: its light, shadow, and colors of the sky and sea.

The central courtyard captures all that Mediterranean light and distributes it vertically to all the corners of the house, no matter how remote they are.

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)

The color gradation from darker to lighter blue doses the light in its vertical travel and makes sure it does not lose its pigments.

In our project we wanted to talk about that genius use of light; making sure every single visitor leaves Casa Batlló having appreciated such qualities, independently of the admiration towards its incredible shapes, craftsmanship, and symbolic allu­sions.

And we wanted to do it in an abstract way. Through this abstraction, free of the colors, materials, and historical dimen­sion of the house, we talk without distractions and nostalgia about the concept of light.

Envisioning the interior for an existing emergency stair, that also had to be transited by every single visitor of Casa Batlló, appeared as a very difficult challenge to address.

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)

It was by relating the vertical development of this stair with the presence of the central patio, both piercing the house from top to bot­tom and organizing the main fluxes of the visit, that we saw the possibility to establish a dialog between them.

This space we have designed for the stair poses a reflection and a dialog with the patio of Casa Batlló.

How to talk about light in an enclosed box with almost no openings for natural light? We have imagined this space dressed in aluminum chain cur­tains, that through its meticulous materiality catches the light, like fishing nets, presenting it in all its different shapes: shines, silhouettes, shadows…

Thus, avoiding the use of any other material and with these curtains erasing the presence of the box and its stair, we achieve talking about light and only light.

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)

The different shades of the aluminum are organized starting from brighter on the rooftop and slowly darkening until becom­ing black when reaching the depths of the former coal cellar in the basement.

With this light gradation that recalls the use of colour in the patio, a new grammar without words tells a story that unfolds along the whole route.

Starting from the roof and finishing in the basement, from the sky to the ground, from light to shadow… and everything explained just with light, like a new grammar inherent to the house.

If the project of Gaudi for Casa Batlló was a homage to Med­iterranean light, our project is a homage to his use of light in Casa Batlló.

New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
© Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero)


New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Plans
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Plans


New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Stairs Sections and Plan
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Atttic Plan
New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Atttic Section


New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
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New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
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New Interior For Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium
Diagrams

Kengo Kuma & Associates
T +81 3 3401 7721 F +81 3 3401 7778
Kengo Kuma & Associates
2 Chome-24-8 Minamiaoyama, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan