Ceramic Architectures

Ed Butler and Daniel Wiltshire, both architects, formed the studio where the exploration of geometric form is the basis of their design processes. This time, made of terracotta and repurposed wood, a series of modular pieces span the center of the City of London, providing much-needed spaces for rest and greenery.

From the archetypal shield motif, a subtly altered geometry of tessellated tiles was developed. They were extruded to create containers of six different heights, with the same basic shape used to create seating and planters. These modules allow for adaptation to different access and individual ergonomic needs, also allowing for reconfiguration capable of responding to any site.

The asymmetry of the pattern and the variation in the height of the modules produce a varied and organic language that avoids the appearance of clear repetition. In contradiction to the glass and steel of the city’s great towers, the materials used are natural, tactile and handmade by Darwen Terracotta, specialists in architectural ceramics.

EMBT is a Barcelona based architecture studio, founded by the partnership of Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue. Their work places great emphasis on context, history and culture, aiming to enhance these aspects through their design process.

In the Porta Nouva district, Benedetta has carried out an intervention in the Ragno Flagship Showroom in which the ceramic material takes center stage. With a vision that fuses tradition and modernity, the studio does not limit itself to using ceramics as a decorative element, but integrates it organically throughout the showroom.

The floor mosaics define areas and generate a visual narrative that connects craftsmanship with contemporary design. From these geometric patterns drawn on the pavement grow wooden spirals, along with nets that weave these structures, wrap and welcome visitors showing the collection of the different products of the brand.

This intervention demonstrates how the use of traditional materials and spatial planning can converge to transform a commercial space into an aesthetic and functional experience.

Designer and artist, he studied at the Architectural Association in London but his work goes beyond traditional architecture. Adam Nathaniel Furman integrates design and art in his projects as means of expression to redefine public spaces.

Croydon Colonnade is a gallery designed on the first floor of an office building in Croydon, south London. It consists of 16 columns 7 meters high and 900 mm in diameter along with several walls clad with three-dimensional handmade porcelain tiles, it references Durham Cathedral by using two types of stone, one on the interior and one on the exterior.

Adam worked closely with the craftsmen at Craven Dunnill Jackfield to create these unique tile designs with a range of glazes that match the aesthetics of the building. Nearly 14,000 pieces were produced, ranging from a deep indigo blue at the base to white at the top. It uses two patterns with a subtle color gradient that changes at eye level creating a unique visual experience along the colonnade.

British textile designer and artist Ptolemy Mann is renowned for her use of vivid colours and geometric patterns. Her work combines traditional techniques with a contemporary style to create unique and vibrant works.

The intervention, titled Prismatic Landscape, covers the exterior of the Farmiloe building, home of The Design Factory during one of the most important events in the design calendar. Mann brings the techniques of colour control and composition that she uses in her tapestries to her ceramic work, displaying an aesthetic coherence across all her creative disciplines. A total of 4,224 individual tiles were used for the installation, covering almost 100 square metres, and adorning three of the building’s walls. 68 glazes were used to compose this mural, but the combination of them gives the appearance of many more. It reflects the changing hues that occur on the horizon or during different times of the day. The materials used are responsibly sourced.

The work is inspired by the way light interacts with landscapes, creating a gradient of colour that gives a sense of movement and depth. Tiles can be both functional and expressive.

Gio Ponti, the renowned Italian architect, designer, and artist, is celebrated as a pivotal figure in 20th-century architecture and design. His work has been meticulously restored in several iconic projects. These projects include the Church of Santa Maria Annunciata, the Buildings of the Nave and Trifoglio, the Montedoria Building, and the Montecatini Buildings.

The restoration has been carried out by the Italian company Teamwork. Their approach focused on faithfully recreating the original tiles and mosaics. They aimed to honor Ponti’s design as closely as possible. To achieve this, Teamwork preserved as many original tiles as possible. They replaced only the severely damaged pieces.

Furthermore, Teamwork carefully matched new tiles to the existing ones. This ensured a seamless integration into the overall facade. Special attention was given to areas requiring larger surface replacements.

One Eagle Place in Piccadilly is part of one of the most iconic commissions by the renowned sculptor Richard Deacon. Commissioned by Eric Parry Architects, the emblematic cornice establishes a dialogue between architecture and art in the heart of London’s city centre. The brief was to replace and refurbish existing buildings in two conservation areas (Regent Street and St James’s) with new and retained facades.

The cornice and window frames were made of faience, a glazed finish. This is a technique widely used in Art Deco buildings and can still be seen on the interior and exterior of many London Underground stations. The process involved mixing different coloured clay in such a way that the original colours remained, but intermingled with each other. Otherwise, a more liquid form in which several colours are mixed at random usually ends in disaster.

This resulted in an iconic cornice from ceramic pieces made up of 30 different colours producing 299 variations. Although Deacon described the cornice design as a “happy accident”, it was exactly what was needed for the project and was enthusiastically accepted by the team at Eric Parry Architects.

The Toledo metro station designed by architect Óscar Tusquets uses ceramic material to materialise the driving idea behind its architecture. The refined mosaic work inside the station creates a luminous atmosphere that recalls the Mediterranean identity of Naples. At the same time, the installation reveals its underground condition, commonly ignored in this type of work.

Thus, the parts above sea level seem to be dug into the rock, while the lower levels appear to be sunk into the sea. To realise this, the multidisciplinary artist William Kentridge created two murals in stone mosaic, of a rough and ancient character. In the “water” areas, however, it was Bob Wilson who installed, facing each other, two enormously long views of the seashore.

Wilson also played a key role in the lighting of the crater, creating a programme to coordinate colour and intensity over time.
In this way, through the large crater, natural light penetrates the mezzanine through three skylights that illuminate the interior while allowing passers-by a glimpse of the Aragonese wall and Kentridge’s mural.

For the last five years, celebrated Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos has been cooking up a 12m-high sculptural pavilion in the British countryside. Her three-tiered Wedding Cake is a Rothschild Foundation commission for the Waddesdon estate (a French Renaissance-style château owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation).

Part sculpture, and part architectural garden folly, Wedding Cake is an extraordinary, gigantic, fully immersive sculpture that fuses pâtisserie, design and architecture. It is a tiled cake shimmering with a glaze of pinks, greens and pale blues inside and out, adorned with sculptural ornaments and featuring the sound of water and a dedicated lighting system.

‘I wanted people to have three different approaches to it: looking from the outside, enjoying the surroundings from the different levels or balconies and rising to the top, finally completing the artwork with their presence’ says Vasconcelos.

And this undertaking is emblematic of Vasconcelos’ practice. Her materials reflect the multitude of international influences on Portuguese culture over centuries – born from a history of exploring and seafaring, from Chinese and Japanese ceramics and Brazilian carnival, incorporating colour and light. In fact, for this project, the ceramics were made by the Viúva Lamego manufactory, which has been operating in Sintra, Portugal, for over 170 years.

Hanging Garden, a 15m long ceramic mural around the pool of a robust off-form concrete house in Sydney, was a collaboration between artist Lymesmith and Neeson Murcutt Architects.

Rising above large sandstone outcrops that cuts a diagonal across the site, and a lush garden, the mural is a landscape element experienced as part of the ensemble of the house. Its color palette – of deep red, orange, and clay pink, along with white and dark blue– perfectly blends into the natural elements. In such a way, the winding wall becomes a genuine part of the garden without mimicking any part of it – it has a beautiful sense of itself, distinct, and yet absolutely belonging to this place.

On the other hand, It isn’t possible to see the entire mural at once. To encounter the artwork requires moving between the house and the pool via paths and stairs, unveiling a dialogue between the site and architecture. At the same time, it makes the handmade glazed terracotta tiles wall stand out, becoming the focal point of the whole garden, thanks to its bright colors, pattern, and texture. The warm tones, the palm trees, and the games of light reflecting from the swimming pool create an emotional and peaceful atmosphere, supporting the fullness of family life.

Standing on the shoulders of Hasami’s rich artisanal traditions, a ceramic platform emerges inside the flagship store for ceramics brand Maruhiro in Nagasaki. Maruhiro is the leading producer of Hasami ceramics which including pottery and porcelain. Named for the region, this area has a history of ceramic tableware production and wholesale distribution dating back to the early 17th century.

Architect Yusuke Seki project is easily distinguishable for his calculated minimalism and unconventional design. Using 25,000 locally sourced white tableware to create new layers in the space. Each of the pottery pieces are imperfect and sourced from factories in the Hasami region. These pieces called “Shinikiji” in Japanese were found to be flawed after the initial bisque-firing by their respective local production facilities. As part of his re-valuative design process, Seki revived these pieces. He filled the discarded cups, plates, and bowls with concrete to strengthen their voids and then stacked them together like bricks to over a meter-high in Tetris-like precision.

With a sustainable approach, the proposed design is a way to alter store-goers experience and interpretation of the environment. Furthermore, the white platform creates a sense of reverence for this history, conveying the fragilely of each individual item, engineered together to inspire and cultivate respect for the legacy on the whole.

Matthew Raw (@mattrawworksinclay) is the artist commissioned to turn a huge section of outer wall by a main entrance into a beautiful mural. Matt’s ceramic artwork, called Faith in the Miraculous, is a labour of love and community inspiration, reflecting creativity and innovation.

This large-scale ceramic mural (5x15m) is installed on the new Arts & Humanities Building at The University of Warwick, designed by Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios. Commissioned by curator Sarah Shalgosky in 2018, the artwork champions the coming together of people, references the architecture of Coventry Cathedral, with its spectacular array of color, and celebrates the historical skills of the area.

The fired clay tiles were made at the NBK Terracotta factory in Germany where Raw decided to make ‘hand-made’ interventions to carve and adapt a number of the 70x100cm tiles. The incredible effects of areas of mixed glaze —another hand-made intervention— represent the meeting of minds and the sharing of knowledge. As Matthew Raw puts it: “This artwork is an exploration of the act of people coming together to create. What relationships, collaborations, meetings, sharing of thoughts and ideas will this building facilitate? It is not knowing. It is the chance of it all.”

Os Azulejos do Porto is a non-profit project to catalogue and preserve all the tiles architectures in Porto whose aim is to preserve this important heritage and make it known worldwide.

The history of architecture is inevitably linked to the ceramic covering sector. Since the middle of the 19th century the Portuguese started to cover their buildings with tiles, becoming since then the country in the world that has more examples of this art. The idea came to life in 2016, after Marisa Ferreira and Alba Plaza met.

Considering the vast number of different tiles that exist, Os Azulejos do Porto is a public digital archive in HD in constant growth. On their website, you can see the various styles: geometric, organic and floral along with the design categories: rotation, concentric and four dots. While doing so, they are researching the history of the tiles, identifying specific factories, dates and whatever they can obtain. In the 19th century, 19 ceramic factories across Porto existed, out of which six were the most important for producing tiles. Now, few artisans who still create tiles traditionally, either hand-painted or in relief, exist today as the remaining factories print quickly and cheaply.

All images credited to Os Azulejos do Porto

The tile is a traditional material associated with the cladding for surfaces or as an isolated decorative element of the architecture. In Tile Architectures, episode number 20 of the Atelier d’Arquitetura collection, the aim is to show how this material has become a construction element widespread in different countries, becoming an important support for national artistic expression in Portugal today. 

This documentary series, produced by the company “Até ao fim do mundo” with the collaboration of the magazine ARQA – arquitectura y arte, aims to be a contemporary look at Portuguese architecture and its real impact on Portuguese society. The main actors, architects and users, will establish a special link with the visual arts and design. In addition, the different episodes will focus on the context of Architecture, Urban Space, Object, the scale of detail and its aesthetic potential through form, sound, images and people. Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto Moura, Gonçalo Byrne, Patrícia Barbas, Miguel Arruda, Camilo Rebelo, João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Cannatà and Fernandes, among others, are some of the protagonists who will accompany us throughout the chapters.

In Tile Architectures, we want to share with you a video about the importance and challenges of Portuguese tiles. We hope you enjoy it! 

The square is the foundation of a regular geometric grid. In 1908, Adolf Loos used the equilateral rectangle to highlight the orthogonal orientation of the interior of his so-called Kärntner Bar, the first American-style bar in Vienna. Whit this concept, the LAX BAR, designed by Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Robert Schwarz and Lukas Stopczynski, is a copy of the Loos’s proposal.

The immersive installation reduces architecture to its very essence and centres around a seemingly simple design that underlines the sheer impact of the material. Walls, floors, ceilings and fixed furniture were completely covered in white ceramic tiles measuring 15  x 15 cm. The black grout between the tiles create a minimalist grid that also characterises the place: an all-over design of tiles and grout that repudiates practically any direct reference to the outside world and reminds the French artist Jean-Pierre Raynaud, known for tiling entire houses with white square tiles. The design also makes use of mirrors as a way of inscribing visitors into the architecture of the LAX BAR.

In short, when the door to this inconspicuous building opens, the visitors, like Alice in Wonderland, fall down a kind of rabbit hole. As an infinite image within the image.

All images credited to Ute Müller

The ephemeral Pavilion d’Eau, designed by Alexander Wolhoff, was built on the Lake Geneva in 2017. This was the result of six months of research, prototyping and coordination with different local organizations, a month of production and just two days of assembly.

The pavilion was comprised of materials including lake stones, wood, and ceramic tiles to ensure a minimal and reversible impact on the site. A project designed to touch the landscape lightly, not affecting the natural lake bed. The inside, which is only visible within the water, was built with 150 handmade tiles whose thickness of the tiles varied between 1.3 and 2mm. The inward surface of each tile made up the inner dome was glazed with navy blue. So that its crystallized relief seemed to adopt liquid movements that are in dialogue with the mountainous and the half liquid, upon which it stood.

In short, the whole technical and logistical proposal was an achievement born out of the collaboration between the École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Haute école d’art et de design – Genève (HEAD).  More particularly between the laboratories ALICE and LHT3, the Center for Experimentation and Realisation in Contemporary Ceramics and the municipality of Saint Saphorin.

All Photos and Drawings credited to Alexander Wolhoff

The rediscovery of the Palauet Nolla’s ceramic mosaics in Meliana was a true revelation, both for their unique character in terms of surface and quality, and for the social and industrial significance. This old 17th century farmhouse became the symbol of the famous Nolla mosaic factory. It was no longer a simple historical building in the Valencian countryside, but a showroom where many famous people from the second half of the 19th century visited.

After several decades, and after the abandonment experienced, the structure was deeply damaged and some of the ceramic decoration had suffered great deterioration. Therefore, its condition was truly critical. To revert this process of loss, a group of architects, restorers and expert ceramists, led by Xavier Laumain (ARAE Patrimonio y Restauración), began work in 2011 to recover this unique monument. Since then, ten phases have been carried out, which have allowed the consolidation of the building and the reconstruction and restoration of the different ceramic mosaics. The reproduction work has been carried out using the same techniques as those originally used and has managed to recover all the splendour of the Palauet.

Video credited to Milena Villalba and Santi H Puig

UCL Cancer Institute designed by GRIMSHAW and located between the classical, red brick medical school and the new institute Paul O’Gorman at University College London, is cladded with a rhythmic, undulating terracotta.

The façade proposal was influenced by science and the study of cancer (images of cells, patterns and the chromosomes permeate the forms of the building). Therefore, the comprising of vertical terracotta blades set at varying angles to the street in front of a glazed envelope, has a rhythm that can be read as a vertical ‘bar code’ configuration or genetic sequence image. The positioning of the individual terracotta blades was determined by sunlight studies, with the intention of mitigating the negative impact of solar rays. The aim was maximising the use of natural lighting, whilst allowing views in and out of the building. Furthermore, the slender ceramic blades, have holes through the body to accommodate a stainless steel tube which holds them together. This rod acts as the stiff spine of the seven extruded segments of terracotta that make up the louvres.

These pieces resonate with the adjoining 19th century Cruciform building by Alfred Waterhouse who considered terracotta a ‘new and exciting modern material’. This is why UCL Cancer Institute of GRIMSHAW continuing this tradition of pushing the boundaries of terracotta’s use in architecture.

The 24th building on Savile Row is a tribute to tailoring heritage of Mayfair’s neighborhood, home to the city’s most exclusive suit makers. The EPR Architects project unites art and architecture to create a brand new landmark building that is cladding in 10,000 ceramic tiles.

Art is integrated into the fabric of the building using a hand glazed ceramic tile, a collaboration with renowned artist Kate Malone and her studio team in Islington. Ceramist spent a year responding to the needs of the architect to define the glazes and unique recipes for the facade’s tiles.

The manufacturing process involved taking a strong, well-proven 30cm by 30cm extruded tile design from Europe and then applying the glazes. Then, the tiles were fired at Froyle Tiles (Richard Miller), a specialist artisan pottery. Contrasts of colour, texture and pattern create a striking presence thanks to the three-dimensional crystallines that reflect and refract daylight, changing the appearance and tone of the building, depending on the weather and time of day.

In this film Stephen Pey and Kate Malone, talk about their roles in the design and the nature of collaboration for Savile Row Building.

Housing has always been an important part of Tadao Ando’s practice, with over 100 small and large residences worldwide. Nowadays, as a part of a new collaborative trend, he continues designing houses but counting on the contribution of recognized artists.

Situated on a quiet residential street of unremarkable homes, Obayashi House hides a particularly innovative collaboration. Ando’s signature spare, concrete-and-glass spaces are punctuated in the middle of the N-shaped plan by the artwork Tile for Yu-un by artist Olafur Eliason as a courtyard “lining” for this gallery house in Tokyo. Based on a space-filling structure called the quasi brick, the shape of the tiles was developed over many years of research and is a geometry that recurs often in Eliasson’s work.

Tadao Ando’s houses favor centrally placed courtyards that illuminate dark interiors with light. As the natural light changes throughout the day, night and seasons, so do the interiors. “I hope that as guests enter the Obayashi House they feel a sense of expectation and excitement,” says Tadao Ando. The bricks can be rotated into six different positions, and put together randomly as they create a very complex pattern. The idea of the quasi brick is the expression of high complexity: the tiles could symbolize the multi-faceted life of the businessman-cum-art collector.

Brick by Brick: Ceramics Applied to Architecture come back once more. We share with you the last interview which was held for exhibition Brick by Brick, held in the Museo del Diseño de Barcelona in 2017. This time, Toni Cumella deepens into the ceramic material from his experience as a ceramist. As told by mysths and confirmed by archaeological findings, clay has been the most widespread of building materials.

Ceramics have always fascinated the mast creative minds, who have challenged themselves to use this material’s legacy to project it into the future whit new system of productions, new laying techniques, new formats and new applications. Tis is especially obvious in the field of architecture, where in recent decades we have seen how its possibilities have been rediscovered.

This fact on clay and its capacity to be extruded, molded, modeled and handled is fundamental for considering the trinomial: material-industry-construction. Therefore, in this video Toni Cumella talks about the geology, the places, properties, chemistry of clay, production systems, techniques, fundamentals, shape, and fire. On the other hand, he reflect on the way to make it more widely known this knowledge among students and researchers in the field of architecture.

The essence of the traditional construction technique for producing contemporary pieces remains intact in the Making Solo installation by Studio Errante Architettura. This group of young architects founded by Sarah Becchio and Paolo Borghino is based in Turin and develops projects at different scales, with special interest in the narrative part of the project.

Understanding architecture as a way of thinking about reality, each project is a discovery in which previous experiences are condensed and which, above all, opens up to unexpected scenarios. In particular, in this work, Becchio and Borghino reinterpet the production of ceramic pieces from tradition by creating new forms that allow innovative designs.

“The vacuum left by industry in some forms of production is clear. But it is this gap that allows us to offer unexpected forms through the use of traditional techniques that can be reinvented. The return to the consciousness of the process of making is the only political act of re-appropriation of any future. The process of doing and the result can only coincide. Mind, hands and eyes in an ancient ritual. An oven, a primordial laboratory. A happy refuge with experimentation. The symbolic realization of a new attitude of doing, in which the rite flows towards an archetypal image. Without nostalgia, only doing.”

The American artist Sarah Sze materializes in Blueprint for a Landscape her work with the most public and challenging vocation to date. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design to collaborate in the design of installations exhibited in existing stations along Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the author states: “A subway station is one of the most democratic places you can find. It has regular local audiences as well as international and ad hoc audiences. It’s always a discovery, seen in transit, not an art destination”.

Blueprint for a Landscape understands each entrance along with the connecting platform at 96th Street station as an opportunity to study our behavior through space. The project consists of 4 murals and 12 panels totaling 4,300 tiles in two different formats (20 mm thick). These porcelain tiles manufactured by Alcalagres and Estudio Cerámico have a total surface area of approximately 14,000 square metres.

Thus, the ceramic pieces incorporate manipulated photographs of familiar objects – paper sheets, scaffolding, birds, trees and foliage – captured at a whirlwind speed that reflect the dizzying rhythm of the passengers who come to the station every day. “They were obsessed with this idea of accelerating the experience of time, especially through transit.”

Infinity Blue, the work designed by Grimshaw Architects and Studio Swine, is part of the Invisible Worlds exhibition, a title that refers to the world beyond our senses. The 20-ton, 9-metre-high installation contains 32 vortex cannons programmed to exhale perfumed fog rings. It is a way of representing the organism that provides the oxygen we take in each breath.

The sculpture is inspired by the prehistoric atmosphere of the earth and is the result of research into one of the first organisms to produce oxygen. “We were really interested in cyanobacteria, tiny oceanic organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. Yet they represent the largest biomass on our planet and create 70 per cent of the Earth’s atmosphere.”

The surface of Infinity Blue, designed by Studio Swine, is lined with oxide-enameled, steel-framed dark blue clay ceramic tiles manufactured by Darwen Terracotta. In addition, its texture is created from an algorithm inspired by the reaction-diffusion systems found in creatures such as zebras or corals. For the steam rings, Givaudan, a fragrance and flavor specialist based in Paris, has created a custom fragrance for the installation.

In the course of building works for the new Porta Garibaldi in Milan, a concrete water tower was erected in the early 1960s. Nowadays, Arcobaleno Tower ceramic restoration has become a benchmark in the skyline which welcomes the visitors, showing the creative attitude of the city.

The first renovation of the infrastructure, which refers to the artisanal origins of the Italian ceramics industry, took place within the framework of the 1990 World Cup. Therefore, 100,000 ceramic tiles in 14 different colours transformed the ruined building into a symbol of the city. After that, coinciding with Expo 2015, restoration work was again carried out so that the building could shine in all its splendour.

The Original Designers 6R5 Network were responsible for both the design of the intervention in the 1990s and its recent refurbishment. Moreover, the Arcobaleno Tower ceramic restoration is part of the Wonderline project, which links art and architecture through themes such as color and tradition.

Cuyperspassage by Benthem Crouwel Architects, is the name of the 110 metres long new tunnel at Amsterdam Central Station that connects the city and the waters of the IJ-river. Moreover, its design makes a clear division between the two modes of travel: pedestrian path and cycleway.

Along the footpath wall there is a tile tableau designed by Irma Boom which design steps off from a restored work by the Rotterdam tile painter Cornelis Boumeester (1652-1733). His tile panel depicting the Warship Rotterdam and the Herring Fleet is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The tableau fades away towards the IJ-river, the lines of the original work gradually dissolving. Its drawn lines and pixels visualize the transition in art from the old to the new.

The ceramic company, spent five years making the 46,000 wall tiles for the Cuyperspassage in Amsterdam, as well as 33,000 floor tiles, in the traditional Dutch tile size of 13 x 13 cm. The whole recalls old kitchens in Amsterdam canal houses, so that the tunnel is experienced as a safe place – as an urban room.

Brick by Brick, organized by Pedro Azara, was the first exhibition devoted to the uses, functions, symbolism and aesthetics of this type of ceramic. The exhibition includes works from the ancient world to the present, particularly from the Mediterranean area, including the Middle East.

In this event, the Museu del Disseny wanted to highlight the importance and the continuing use of ceramic in architecture. In addition, focusing on both long-standing traditions and innovation in this field over the course of the millennia.Therefore, the show features a selection of three hundred ceramic pieces applied in architecture.

We share with you a video of the exhibition Brick by Brick: Ceramics Applied to Architecture explained by his curator the architect Pedro Azara. The exhibition, was held simultaneously with the Forty-Seventh Congress of the International Academy of Ceramics in Barcelona, an event that took hosted in the Disseny Hub Barcelona building, was hold in the Museo del Diseño in Barcelona from September 2016 until January 2017.

Looking for paying a Portuguese tribute combining the tradition of tiles and contemporary design, Pedrita studio was invited to create a panel for the Hotel hall.

Convento Salvador Hotel, located at Alfama historical neighborhood, is an adaptation of one of the oldest Lisbon convents. The Convento do Salvador Centre belongs along with the Hotel, to the Association for Children’s Cultural Promotion – APCC, and is decorated with works of artists such as Ana Hatherly, Paula Rego, Pedro Cabrita Reis, João Pedro Croft, Julião Sarmento, among others. Continuing the work developed with discontinued industrial, end-of-the-line tiles and following the same concept as the panels made for Capristanos caffé (2016) and Best Guess For This Image solo show, which we were captivated by the uncertainty of the portrayed picture.

This video by Pedrita Studio, shows the design and manufacturing of the ceramic mosaic of the Queen Catarina, who would have lived in this convent.

The LIFE CERSUDS demonstrator in Benicasim (Castellón) is a European project for the adaptation of cities to climate change. It develops an urban system of sustainable drainage from the reuse of ceramic tiles of low commercial value. The reduction of CO2 emissions associated to the manufacturing of pavements thanks to recycling the material of the ceramic stock, the decrease of the sealed floor areas in the cities, the recovery of natural infiltration systems to avoid flooding and the reduction of the heating known as “heat island” effect, are the aims to which this project will give response providing qualified and verifiable results.

This video shows the manufacturing process of the ceramic drainage pavement as well as its execution and implementation at the Benicasim demonstrator.

We share with you an interesting interview with Ramon Bosch from bosch.capdeferro Arquitectura on his Collage House in Girona. It is part of the exhibition Brick by Brick. Ceramics applied to architecture hold in the Museo del Diseño de Barcelona from September 2016 until January 2017.

Renovation always means establishing a relationship with the past, with the pasts that are accumulated in the space of the intervention. And also with the future, with that imaginary idea of the place we would like to aim. But above all it means a great capacity to work with the present. To erase or to draw: to eliminate, clean, repair, reconstruct, replace, incorporate, add…

This project conceives the idea of transforming an underused incineration plant into a warm local resting place, by infusing people’s breath. Breath marks is a public art collaborative project at Doosan Elementary School in Doksan, Seoul. Jaechan Yang, the director  of Urban Society, and the artist Sun Choi proposed the idea of covering its façade with 3000 handcrafted tiles, that hold local people’s breaths, collected traces of blown inks. Eventually this visualized breaths become the incineration plant itself.
You can watch the whole process in this video.

The studio Can Ran arquitectura are the authors of the plastic intervention in the new atrium of Estação Sul and Sueste. It is part of the project for the expansion and remodeling of the Fluvial Station of the South and Sueste in Lisbon, the 1932 project of the architect Cottinelli Telmo. This extension, whose author is Atelier Daciano da Costa, aims to transform the Fluvial station into Interface, creating in this building the connection between the metropolitan and the Transtejo ships.

The support of this ceramic intervention, manufactured by Viúva Lamego, is the ceiling and column assembly of the new Atrium of the Interface. It is intended that it develops in an inseparable way of space, merging it with architecture, but at the same time stands out and reinforces it. The ceiling with the dimensions of 17m by 23m is loose from the walls, has a right foot of 5.6m and is supported by 8 columns of 0.60m in diameter. Underneath this roof the stairs of access to the metropolitan emerge.

We share with you an interesting interview which is part of the exhibition Brick by Brick. Ceramics applied to architecture, hold in the Museo del Diseño de Barcelona from September 2016 until January 2017. Eugeni Bach explains his project Housing Casp 74 St. in Barcelona.

We share with you an interesting interview which is part of the exhibition Brick by Brick. Ceramics applied to architecture, hold in the Museo del Diseño de Barcelona from September 2016 until January 2017. The Catalan architect, Toni Gironès, explains his project Dolmen transmitter space in Seró.

Clay Station is a collaboration between Assemble and the artist Matthew Raw commissioned by Art on the Underground.

Building on London Underground’s rich heritage of ceramics, the project involves the production of more than a thousand hand-made tiles as part of the refurbishment and remodelling of a commercial unit at the entrance to Seven Sisters Underground Station which has lain empty for more than a decade.

This technique entails colouring blocks of plain white clay with body stain and mixing together different combinations before they are sized, rolled, moulded, cut, dried, fired and glazed. The resulting tiles formed from this process will be used to clad the exterior of the building and each one will be unique.

These ondulating blocks were manufactured and stacked together to create ‘WAVE/CAVE’, with the aim of providing visitors with a moment of intimacy.

The installation was designed by SHoP architects for Interni Magazine’s Material Immaterial exhibition, which took place as part of Milan Design Week 2017.

Made up of 1,670 extruded unglazed terracotta blocks, the work stands at 10 meters high at its tallest point. Each block has been individually carved, and while they appear complete on the outside, the inside of the installation reveals an intricate pattern created by volume subtraction.

We share with you an interesting interview which is part of the exhibition Brick by Brick. Ceramics applied to architecture, hold in the Museo del Diseño de Barcelona from September 2016 until January 2017. Vicenç Sarrablo, Director of the Ceramics Chair of Barcelona talks about the multiple uses and advantages of ceramics.

The project represents the paradigm of the contemporary urban park, which is neither a fragment of the natural landscape nor a landscaped piece of the city, but the mix of both of them. Museum & Mosaic Park has an hybrid character that combines architecture with landscape, and nature with artifice.

On the one hand, the use of broken local ceramic pieces of different colours for the materialization of the pavement and benches of the park and for the facades of the museum evokes the mosaic tradition that was widespread throughout Europe by the Roman Empire and that has evolved along history till the present day bringing technical solutions such as the trecandís technique used by the Catalan modernist architects.

On the other hand, the geometry of the park is inspired by the crackled glaze of the Chinese porcelain developed from the 10th century during the Song Dynasty in the Ru Ware and Ge Ware ceramic pieces. The Mosaic park and the Ceramic Museum remind citizens that the Jinzhou region was once a production area of ceramic and porcelain, although this tradition was lost for centuries, being nowadays forgotten.

CCCloud (Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud) was Kengo Kuma’s first built work of architecture in Italy and it was completed in September 2010. The monument, located in the middle of a roundabout in front of Casalgrande Padana‘s Headquarters, is the collaborative result of Kengo Kuma’s team, the University represented by Alfonso Acocella and Luigi Alini, and Casalgrande Padana.

The completed structure is 12 meters tall and is a maximum of 1.7 meters wide at the central section. It is composed of nine layers of porcelain stoneware slabs that. This tiles measure 60 x 120 cm and are stacked and held in place by thin threaded bars. Traditionally used as cladding, the ceramic tiles are used in this monument for the first time as a structural component.

Here we share with you an interesting interview with Kengo Kuma on his Ceramic Cloud.

CERÁMICA, a ground-breaking new exhibition at RIBA North supported by ASCER, explores the future use of ceramics and technology in architecture. From 28 October 2017 to 10 February 2018, a series of full-scale installations by ECAlab (Environmental Ceramics for Architecture Laboratory) will enliven RIBA’s new centre on the Liverpool waterfront.

The exhibition seeks to highlight how traditional ceramic techniques and digital engineering processes can be used together to produce more significant and sustainable architectural elements.

One of the main events of CERÁMICA is a symposium on architecture and ceramics that will be held on 8 December 2017 under the title of Molding Futures: Architectural Ceramics Symposium. Experts like Martin Bechthold (director of the Harvard’s GSD), Eric Parry or Maximiliano Arrocet (Amanda Levete Architects) are among the scheduled speakers.

German photographer Sebastian Erras’ Instagram account (Parisian Floors) showcases the bright and beautiful floor tiles of Paris and other cities. Intricate historic mosaics and colourful worn off hidraulic tiles are often the main characters of these pictures. In all of them his shoes peep out, giving a sense of scale and reminding us that sometimes it is ok to look down.

The winning proposal of the inaugural competition launched by Archivo Diseño y Arquitectura for a temporary public pavilion to be built next to the institution’s main building in México materializes in a heap of terracotta vases with variable configurations, evoking domestic Mexican references and Luis Barragán’s passion for gardens.

“Clay has existed for centuries and it is here to stay, we could even call it an emergent material something that every civilization discovered on their own, and therefor has been the story teller, witness, and evidence of many lives and households. It has been part of design, since before design existed, and it has always been part of Mexican life.” Pedro&Juana

All images credited to Adam Wiseman and Moritz-Bernoully

2017’s Triennale di Milano presented the exhibition GIO PONTI: L’INFINITO BLU, dedicated to the ceramic tile designs for the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, as well as notes, drawings and photographs of the creative process.

The collection of 33 ‘Blu Ponti’ tiles in 20×20 format was composed of the 27 models used at the hotel, with the addition of five patterns that were never produced and an another one unpublished that was discovered in the archives of the original manufacturer Ceramica D’Agostino. The tiles have been reproduced by Ceramica Francesco De Maio for the occasion.

Alongside this article there is a suggestive animation produced by LIXIL Group (Tokyo) in 2014 for the exhibition Giving Warmth to the Building Skin, The World of Gio Ponti, Father of Modern Italian Design.