Camper Paseo de Gracia

Kengo KumaCommercialCataluñaInterior2018

This Camper shop in Barcelona faces the Plaza Catalonia. In this project, we renewed the space with vaulted ceramic plates which were used as the form-work of floor slabs. This was a revolutionary method of construction developed in Catalonia as previously, floors had been supported by wooden beams. The ground-breaking concept of this Catalan vault was a great inspiration to Gaudi throughout his works.

Here, the Catalan vault functions as the basic unit of the furniture, from shelves, to benches, and counters for the shoes, giving a warm and friendly atmosphere which reflects the culture of Catalonia.

Partners in charge: Kengo Kuma, Javier Villar Ruiz
Project team: Jaime Fernandez Calvache (PM), Nicola Maniero, Ludovica Cirillo, Kimio Suzuki (visualizations)
Client: Camper
Contractor: Norden GSE, S.L.U.
Lighting designer: Viabizzuno
Ceramist: Ceramica Cumella

Barcelona, Spain
2018.03-11
retail
80 m2

Architects: Kengo Kuma

kkaa.co.jp


Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. Before establishing Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, he received his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, where he is currently a Professor of Architecture. Having been inspired by Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kengo Kuma decided to pursue architecture at a young age, and later entered the Architecture program at the University of Tokyo, where he studied under Hiroshi Hara and Yoshichika Uchida. During his Graduate studies, he made a research trip across the Sahara, exploring various villages and settlements, observing a unique power and beauty. After his time as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York, he established his office in Tokyo. Since then, Kengo Kuma & Associates has designed architectural works in over twenty countries and received prestigious awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), and the International Stone Architecture Award (Italy), among others. Kengo Kuma & Associates aims to design architecture which naturally merges with its cultural and environmental surroundings, proposing gentle, human scaled buildings. The office is constantly in search of new materials to replace concrete and steel, and seeks a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society.

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