Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Area: 260 m²
Year: 2020
Photography: IMAGENSUBLIMINAL
Project Team: Javier Villar Ruiz, Jaime Fernandez Calvache, Gorka Beitia Zarandona, David Minton Albero, Mila Dimitrovska, Kimio Suzuki
Illumination: Viabizzuno
City: Barcelona
Country: Spain
The New Interior for Casa Batlló Stairs & Atrium by Kengo Kuma & Associates in Barcelona reinterprets Gaudi’s use of Mediterranean light. Completed in 2020, the project uses aluminum chain curtains to capture and reflect light in an abstract, material-free approach. The design establishes a dialogue with the central courtyard, guiding visitor’s from bright to dark tones as they move through the space, emphasizing light as a narrative element.
Casa Batlló pays homage to the Mediterranean’s light, shadow, and colors of the sea and sky. Its central courtyard collects and distributes light to all corners of the house, ensuring even the most remote areas receive light through a gradual shift from dark to light blue, preserving the intensity of the pigments.
The architects sought to emphasize this masterful use of light, ensuring that every visitor experiences its qualities, independent of the house’s shapes, craftmanship, and symbolic meanings. Their abstract approach focuses solely on the concept of light, eliminating distractions from color, materials, or the building’s historical context.
The project addressed the challenge of redesigning an emergency stair, traversed by every visitor, within an enclosed space with minimal natural light. The solution connected the stair to the central patio, aligning their vertically and establishing a dialogue between the two elements.
The stairwell space is enclosed in aluminum chain curtains, designed to capture light in its varied forms—shines, silhouettes, and shadows. These curtains conceal the stair and box-like structure, allowing the light to become the sole focus of the space.
The aluminum shades gradually transition from bright at the rooftop to black in the basement, mimicking the light gradation of the patio. This progression, from light to shadow, forms a wordless narrative that guides visitors through the space, from the sky to the earth.
Gaudi’s design for Casa Batlló celebrated Mediterranean light, and Kengo Kuma & Associates’ project pays tribute to his masterful use of light within the house.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: 43 Passeig de Gràcia, L’Eixample, Barcelona 08007, Spain
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
