Dear Design has incorporated new flexible, dynamic and technological facilities respecting the old building and honoring the extraordinary architecture of Bonet i Castellana. The materials contrast with the previous ones and they have been used in order to give the building a modern appearance, creating attractive spaces. In the interior the furniture seeks to approach the architect Bonet i Castellana but employing his latest designs.
Description of the project by Dear Design
The new Creative Research Park of Barcelona is located in the Canódromo, the emblematic rationalist building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Bonet i Castellana in 1961.
After the renovation of the building in 2016, Dear Design Studio won the competition for the interior design of the building, and also proposed the design of corporate identity and signage to give the project greater coherence. The challenge was to adapt the facilities of the old Canódromo to its new function: flexible and dynamic space for the emerging and technological companies of the creative and cultural industries. At the same time, Dear Design proposed to stimulate the relationship of the building with the neighborhood by including technological interventions that reflect the processes developed in the building.
The interior design looks for the flexibility and dynamism of the different spaces, preserving the historical traces of the building. The main idea is to respect and honor minimalist architecture of Bonet, through a discreet and careful intervention. Dear Design responds to a need for a "hub" office that encourages the interaction between its users and promotes the current ways of working: flexibility and adaptation of the spaces that allow the mobility of the user.
Regarding the visual identity of the project, Dear Design sought to transmit values of speed, movement, progress and technology of the new Creative Park, represented graphically by the irregular decomposition of the typography in vertical lines of different thicknesses and separated by different distances.
In order to create comfortable and pleasant spaces, warm materials such as wood and acoustic panels of wwcb have been used to contrast with pre-existing steel structures and concrete floors.
The furniture used in the intervention is a clear nod to the architect Bonet. The floor lamps and suspension, designed by Dear Design, combine 2 original structures of the BKF chair, an original design by Antoni Bonet, with a soft cloth skin. The pre-existing colors of the original building, yellow mustard and light blue, are recovered in the table lamps, designed by Dear Design, in the metallic structures of the tables, as well as in the vinyls of the facade that protect the offices from the sun.
