The leader in architectural surfaces Cosentino and the award-winning design studio ANARCHITECT jointly create a slow tech public installation in the heart of the Dubai Design District. Context Reflections is a permeable installation that invites visitors to enter a darkened room to linger and discover the intriguing play of penetrating light created through a natural optical phenomenon. The relationship between natural light and the materials used was the basis of the work done in the design phases.
In fact, the low luminosity was expressly studied and wanted to better tune in to the twilight and stimulate the creative imagination. The natural light that enters the installation therefore makes it a sort of darkroom that projects surprising images of the outside world, leaving the visitor with a feeling of surprise and entry into a dreamlike dimension. The moving images evoked on the inner wall – inverted ‘live’ projections of the surroundings outside the building – suggestively ask visitors to slow down, observe carefully and reflect on the constantly changing environment. Built using Sunlit Days, the first collection of zero-emission surfaces by Silestone by Cosentino, an innovative and carbon-neutral series not only because it is produced using 99% reused water, 100% renewable electricity.
An important construction but where the minimum waste of material has proved to be one of the main objectives pursued by the design team, thus creating a structure that can be disassembled and reused to give it the possibility of a second and even third life.The installation is thus a tool to educate the consumer about what is possible. It is a meeting ground between materiality, environmental sensitivity and pure design. A detour to the overwhelming amount of information and technology, ‘Context Reflections’ creates an opportunity for introspective contemplation, asking viewers to further question the importance of natural light, the environment, social behavior and the responsibility to preserve and admire all that is important.
CREDITS
Project: Context Reflections
Architects: ANARCHITECT and e Cosentino
Year: 2021
Photo: Oculis Project
