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2020: A Spa Odyssey

Atelier Caracas

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Wellness Space
5.38
5.15
6.15
4.85
5.38
Sonya Simmonds
Sonya Simmonds Global Head of Design & Build at Spotify
The engineering and form of the ext...
6
2
6
5
4.75
Mike Tristram
Mike Tristram Strategic Lead at Checkland Kindleysides
A great multi-use building with sig...
5
3
6
5
4.75
Meryem Yalcin
Meryem Yalcin Assistant Professor at TOBB University of Economics and Technology
5
5
4
4
4.5
Hans J. Galutera
Hans J. Galutera Founder and CEO at HG DesignWorks LLC
This building is an exciting and in...
8
5
7
3
5.75
Mustafa Afsaroglu
Mustafa Afsaroglu Interior Designer, Co-founder at TS-DS
I find the use of fluid, sculptural...
7
4
8
5
6
Jun Aizaki
Jun Aizaki Founder & Owner at Crème Jun Aizaki Architecture & Design
Very futuristic. The organic shaped...
8
7
8
4
6.75
George Foussias
George Foussias Director of Interior Design at Lemay
5
6
7
5
5.75
Dang Ming
Dang Ming Founding Partner / Chief Designer at HONG Designworks / XUST
6
5
7
5
5.75
Rosie Haslem
Rosie Haslem Director at Spacelab / Labthinks
Classic Zaha Hadid statement archit...
6
3
5
3
4.25
Francesca Perani
Francesca Perani Founder at Francesca Perani Enterprise
8
7
8
5
7
Luís Pedra Silva
Luís Pedra Silva Founder and Lead Architect at Pedra Silva Arquitectos
6
4
4
2
4
Wang Guan
Wang Guan Founder of Matrix Design at Matrix Design
6
5
6
4
5.25
Jose Manuel Ferrero
Jose Manuel Ferrero Creative Director at Estudihac JM Ferrero
6
6
6
3
5.25
Minyu Zhang
Minyu Zhang Interior Design Director at SUNAC ShangHai Group
5
5
4
5
4.75
Client
Noah
Floor area
80 ㎡
Completion
2020
Carpentry
Juan Abano

Some time ago we were approached by a client asking us to design a day spa in Caracas, stating literally that they wanted something `out of this world´. Considering that the location is in a considerably busy area of the city, they desired it to act as a pleasant hermetic bubble, an airtight space isolated from the noise of the city, and where its frequently polluted environment simply would not exist nor apply. Upon considering this we decided to act following faithfully the client´s idea , as in absolute contrast to the urban context around the location, with an architecture aiming to evoke the imagery of outer space, the mysterious and `other worldly´. Atelier Caracas is an office that operates and designs following references and clues coming generally from outside architecture, and often emerging from pop culture, fashion and the world of film. Contemplating the concept of `outer worldly´ led us very quickly to consider analyzing and dissecting the visual aesthetics of Stanley Kubrick´s seminal SciFi movie `2001: A Space Odyssey´, in its staging and scenarios, and we decided to undertake architecture following those cues. We would endeavor through the deconstruction of the sets and scenography created by Kubrick and Harry Lange to generate more than a spa, to create a space of surreal perspectives, a diffuse threshold between earth and outer space. The day spa, while fulfilling and taking into account all of the client´s requirements, ended up being the pretext to generate a territory, a statement, an experiment in details, furniture and space evoking `the other worldly´. Taking into account a tight budget, the project consists of a limited intervention. It is a space in pastel pink throughout, in which the ribbed slab ceiling structure is left exposed and sprayed with stucco to generate a cave-like sensation. The front office reception desk is built in MDF panel clad in Formica simulating marble, resting on a large stone found on a roadside in the city outskirts, bringing to mind the presence of a meteorite. A succession of wood panels covered in wood simulated Formica with large oculi generate cubicles, which subliminally bring to mind for SciFi connoisseurs the film´s antagonist, the A.I. entity known as HAL. In between cubicles there are rose tinted glass separations, generating chromatic filters and altering the perception of the inhabitant. Plants in their naïve clay pots create ironic perspectives , in contrast and within the `outer space´ environment, with their soil grown and ground sourced materials providing warmth in the overarching rose hued context, constantly reminding us of HOME.