London practice Amanda Levete Architects were awarded the Interiors and Fit-Out Prize at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona last week for their Corian Super-Surfaces Showroom in Milan.

Inspired by ripples on water, the installation features twisted strips of solid surface material that form seating, display shelving and partitions.

The forms are lit from between gaps in these panels.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

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Amanda Levete Architects wins interiors prize with Corian showroom

Amanda Levete Architects, based in London, has won the Interiors and Fit-Out Prize, awarded at WAF for the first time. The win is for the Corian Super-Surfaces Showroom in Milan.

The jury, chaired by Lorenzo Apicella, wrote: ´What made this project exceptional is that it methodically explored a familiar material that is loved, but perhaps not fully understood by most designers that use it. Here the architect has pushed the boundaries of what this material can do in both form and structure. In many ways they have recast the possibilities Corian affords the designer. We see Corian as a poetic and sensual material as much as a practical and utilitarian one.

´This is the designer as inventor, craftsman and scenographer. They have made a beautiful and complex space without the feeling that a material has been misused. For an environment made entirely of a composite it feels both light and natural. Lighting was made integral to the displays, animating both space and product. Colour was also used expressively, woven into walls, shelves, tables and seating to create a sensuous interior envelope. Transforming standard existing panel products, the architect has demonstrated how to achieve a visually rich space with an economy of material and means.´

CORIAN LOUNGE

The idea

A drop of water creating a series of ripples became the metaphor for transforming space through movement. Just as the ripple causes intricate moiré patterns in water, Corian® Super Surfaces is about revealing the moment of change through visual complexity, creating dynamic kinetic effects. Moving through the space appears to animate it. Views are revealed and concealed as the surfaces transition between active and passive states creating countertops, display shelving, seating and a partition that seamlessly morphs from solid to transparent.

The project embodies opposites; simple yet complex, solid yet apparently kinetic, sculptural though not monolithic. The voids between the surfaces become as essential as the form and structure itself. Revealing the physical presence of the void creates maximum visual input with minimum means.

The process

More than just an expression of the material, the surface transformations push the technical possibilities of DuPont Corian® by exploiting its pliability and using the twisted geometry of the sheets to bring structural integrity. Advanced digital technology was used as part of the process for generating the design as well as for the fabrication of the installation. AL_A also designed the making of the piece, working closely with Hasenkopf to develop a single adjustable jig that created multiple twisted surfaces from a standard flat sheet.

Design Team Amanda Levete, Alvin Huang, Bruce Davison – Project Leader, Alex Bulygin, Chiara Ferrari, Filippo Previtali

Collaborators

Margaritelli / Listone Giordano®
Isometrix Lighting Design
Nemo divisione luci di Cassina
molo
Hasenkopf
Esarc Hi-tech
Detnk – London exhibition