Spanish studio Mesura salvaged stone remnants of ancient fountains, archways and Gothic buildings to create the inside of this Aesop retailer in Barcelona.
Positioned on town’s Avinguda Diagonal, the skincare retailer has been shortlisted for a Dezeen Award within the miniature retail inside class.
The venture includes a single, uneven room outlined by chunky basins and shelving produced from neutral-hued Montjuïc stone, native to Barcelona however now not quarried on account of its shortage.
Structure studio Mesura collected 78 items of stone from a defunct quarry close by, the place native family-run stonemason Barbany retains remnants of demolished Nineteenth-century constructions.
The artefacts embrace fragments of buildings from Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter alongside ornamental archways, fountains and plinths that when stood within the metropolis – recognized by way of a “pseudo archaeology” investigation by the studio.
Mesura cleaned the stones to take away dust and particles earlier than individually transferring them to the shop, the place they had been delicately organized throughout the 2.7-metre-high room utilizing a miniature crane.
“We prevented altering the stones’ pure patina or indicators of earlier operate, as these particulars add to their character and historic significance,” stated studio co-founder Benjamín Iborra.
“No paint or floor therapies had been utilized. As an alternative, we celebrated the uncooked, real textures of the stone, enhancing its pure magnificence and reinforcing its connection to the previous,” he instructed Dezeen.
The fragments had been organized in line with “their purposeful function within the retailer”, Iborra defined. The rounder, deeper items of stone had been used as basins whereas the broader and shallower stones had been repurposed as low-slung shelving for uniform rows of Aesop merchandise.
“We adhered strictly to the idea of stacking stone upon stone,” stated Iborra. “When further top was wanted, smaller stones had been used to attain the specified elevation.”
Stainless-steel was used to create detachable additions to the stones within the type of miniature slide-in cabinets, trays or faucets for the basins. A duo of mirrored shelving models hangs from the partitions.
Textured white stucco was chosen for the partitions and ceilings to distinction with the sleeker white-tiled flooring.
“The interiors are hot and alluring, with Montjuïc stone as the point of interest,” Iborra stated.
Earlier than putting in the fragments, Mesura created 3D-printed fashions of the stones so the group may experiment with numerous iterations earlier than committing to the ultimate format. No adhesives had been used on the stones in order that they may very well be returned to the quarry within the occasion of the shop closing.
“Montjuïc stone is particularly important as a result of it’s the solely stone really native to town,” stated Iborra. “With its distinctive reddish, beige and gray tones, the stone represents Barcelona’s architectural id.”
The winners of this 12 months’s Dezeen Awards will probably be introduced at a reside ceremony subsequent Tuesday, which can happen on the not too long ago restored Hackney Church in east London.
Identified for his or her context-dependent interiors, Aesop shops all over the world embrace a Copenhagen department knowledgeable by the close by Louisiana Museum of State-of-the-art Artwork and an outlet in Cambridge, UK, with handwoven bulrush cabinets that nod to the native River Cam.
