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Entwurf • Design T. Gelabert, J. J. Iniesta, G. del Val
Bauherr • Client ARCO, IFEMA, ES-Madrid
Standort • Location IFEMA, ES-Madrid
Nutzfläche • Floor space 1.000 m 2
Foto: Maru Serrano
Fotos • Photos José Hevia
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 126

EXHIBITION LOUNGE

IN MADRID

Every year, the ARCO international art exhibition or-
ganizes an open competition for designing its VIP
lounge. In the winning design on the 40th anniversary,
one is repeatedly tempted to look for the exit: With
“Salida”, neon-light lettering directs outside. After the
long period in lockdown, real trees and street furniture
satisfies the collective longing for the outdoor space.

T he Spanish architects Toni Gelabert, Javier Jiménez Iniesta and
Gonzalo del Val successfully react to the lasting state of crisis ex-
perienced during the corona-virus pandemic with a refreshingly opti-
mistic and, at the same time, a safe answer as well. Their design plays
on a kind of interaction occurring at exactly the safe distance which has
been globally internalized during the past two years whenever encoun-
ters take place in the open air: In a standard three-by-three metre grid,
a total of 90 young birch trees are the material for indicating the ideal
distance at which the attending collectors are guaranteed complete
Grundriss • Floor plan protection against getting infected. Letters as clues which are alterna-
tingly shining in bright red, orange and yellow – the warning colours
per se – in a paradox way, however, exude an extremely unobtrusive
elegance. Behind this choreography of colours, this illusion of an out-
door space indoors, is a scenographic light production that simulates
sunrise and sunset at 30-minute intervals. A monochrome and yet dy-
namic atmosphere where the ground, the furnishing and the planting
merge into a unique landscape. In the beginning, the spotlights make
the sitting furniture and the carpet look true yellow, then they gradually
lay a red filter across the complete area. With their white bark, the
birch trees optimally reflect the incident “sunlight” and perfectly live
Längsschnitt • Longitudinal section up to their name which is derived from the Indo-German word for
“glossy, shimmery, shiny”! The restaurant, blue without any exceptions,
adds a hard contrast of colour and continues the principle of mono-
chromaticity. Against the wish of the organizer for a black envelope, the
white exterior of the VIP lounge does not stand out from the colour of
all the other walls of the walls of the exhibition stands. Due to its 60
centimetres higher position, however, the exclusivity of the platform is
sufficiently expressed. Seen from a distance, the treetops rising above
the outer walls arouse curiosity. The focus on nature, the retreat into
fantasy, a certain escapism … with its lounge, the trio of architects has
designed an accessible exhibit that awakens the poetry of Romanticism
Querschnitt • Transversal section to a new life – right between all the contemporary art in the exhibition.

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