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This is the clever idea that occurred to brothers Alessandro and Francesco Mendini, when in 2008 they were commissioned to design the creative and commercial showroom in Milan for Seves Glassblock, the global leader in the glass block sector, with headquarters in Florence and production and commercial networks throughout the world.
One year after the Milan showroom was opened, Seves is consolidating its leadership by opening a brand flagstore in Zaragoza, Spains’ fifth city, and capital of Aragon. The location is conceived to communicate the innovative scope of the material, which combines excellent technical and construction properties with aesthetic and decorative possibilities that are still to be explored throughout the world.
The 250m² exhibition space is a true reproduction of the concept developed by Atelier Mendini for the Milan showroom, offering an attractive journey through the vast array of product collections on catalogue.
The visitor is immediately thrown into a colourful, illuminated universe by an eye-catching maxi polychromatic panel, composed of the vividly coloured glass blocks of the Mendini Collection, the latest Seves glassblock innovation from the Design Line, heir to the Vetroarredo collection and integrated within the Pegasus glass block with “wings”.
A special manual block-by-block production process that preserves the purity of the shades of colour, has enabled the range of Pegasus colours to be enriched by 16 new ultra-contemporary proposals, conceived by the Atelier Mendini to enliven contemporary domestic landscapes with new shades and visual sensations.
The pieces of this new vivid collection are presented in the 19x19x8cm format, with smooth glass design and metallic finishings, resulting in even sharper, fuller and more forceful shades. The blocks, ranging from the most daring, strong shades such as Corallo, Giada and Citrino to Black and White in different degrees of transparency, are arranged as if on a chessboard.
The journey through the showroom continues along a central corridor with an array of atmospheres, created by the displays of Seves glassblock collections along the walls. The screen on the right alternates neutral satin finished shades with coloured glass blocks and metallic finishings. The wide range of colours (nine pastel shades plus the neutral one), finishings and formats in which Pegasus is available are all displayed, highlighting how the Pegasus collection is an ideal choice for high-level contemporary architecture and design. The collection includes standard pieces and special modules, such as corner and end pieces. The trump card of the neutral version is simplicity. However, the collection also offers multiple colour possibilities, and new metallic finishings, which when applied to the neutral or coloured versions create a silvery hue and an evocative light effect.
An office, defined by the Q42 block, conceived by Tailor Made service for architects is located within this area. The Q42 block was made by Seves in cooperation with Renzo Piano for the Maison Hemrès in Tokyo. It is characterised by its large dimensions (42,8x42,8x12 cm) and by a mirror image effect that lends it an extraordinary silvery luminosity.
The kitchen area on the left is separated by the Q30 Trapezoidal glass block, conceived by Belen Moneo and Jeff Brock for the Tiberio’s Baths in Panticosa in the Spanish Pyrenees. It is a special glass block with dimensions of 30x30cm, characterised by a trapezoidal form, due to a 5 degree inclination of the two parallel faces.
A ramp leads onto a wide area, dominated by an illuminated column in the centre, which shows how the Q30 Doric glass block can by applied. This glass block was created in cooperation with Rafael Moneo for the Library of Jesuits’ Deusto University in Bilbao. It is composed of an external face with fluted forms in relief that evoke the motif of the Greek Doric columns.
The layout has been designed specifically to exhibit as many products as possible in realistic contexts. All products that are not tridimensionally developed are displayed in succession along the showroom perimeter, in order to provide an insight into the infinite variations of each basic element.
Proposals form the Technology Line are presented next to the glass block from Design Line, with its high technical performance products (resistance to fire, thermal insulation, anti impact resistance, floorings, etc.) and from the Basic Line, which, inspired in the Bohemian glass tradition, is a basic line with several glass designs, decors and colours, and indispensable for use in interiors and exteriors.
The Doric glass block model by Rafael Moneo in metallic and satin finishings is used as a screen for another office. The effect is visual isolation, but without interrupting the passage of light that filters softly through the glass blocks in different degrees of intensity.
This showroom has been chosen by Seves in order to communicate directly with the Spanish market, both with the general public, who are sensitive to light and transparency, particularly aware of the aesthetic results of glass blocks, and appreciate their warmer, optimistic and colourful features, and with architects, who in recent years have increasingly chosen this material as the distinctive aesthetic element for their projects.
Numerous projects have followed the abovementioned Deusto Library by Rafael Moneo and Tiberio’s Baths by Moneo-Brock studio, such as the television headquarters in Asturias, the SEGO (Spanish company of Gynaecology and Obstetrics) headquarters in Madrid by Rafael Beneytez, the Railway Station in Lisbon by Santiago Calatrava, several projects by Joaquin Sicilia, including the Baths of Sicilia Séron in Jaraba, Corrala Embajadores by Rafael de la Hoz, the Alvalade Stadium by Tomas Taveira, The Villa Bio by Enric Ruiz–Geli, and the new headquarters of RBA Publications by studio Bohigas MBM Arquitectes, etc.
This long list of references is testimony to the determination to provide an exceptional and personalised relationship with customers and Spanish architects alike, and to continue to expand in the market, not only from the perspective of consolidating results and growth, but also in terms of enhancing the message associated with Seves’ glass blocks, a message of light, colour, transparency, flexibility and high performance. |
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