Estat previ
One could say that the city is made up of houses; however, we could also say that it is made up of windows, especially at night. Most of these windows accompany us as a constant, rhythmic background; one which allows us to count units which are rooms, which in turn are people; to count stories and know how high a building is. But some windows are special, they are bay windows, look-out points and they can be located on corners or relevant places. These help shape singular public spaces and give meaning to certain urban perspectives. Based on these premises, the piece of work for the Lluèrnia 2014 Festival was installed on one of the corners of the Clarà Square in Olot. This is a rectangular square surrounded by arcaded buildings, in the neoclassical style, and designed by Esteve Pujol in 1871. It is an urban space which plays an essential role within the city’s structure, for it is located halfway between the old part of the city and its subsequent suburban developments, at the intersection of different roads. It is the city’s center. The bay window occupies the last part of the square that is still unfinished, just in front of the metal and crystal bay window of Casa Artigas.Objecte de la intervenció
There were several reasons for choosing this place, but all of them point in the same direction: a crossing, a square, a corner, the possibility of forming a pair and the fact of it being an unfinished corner and, furthermore, the fact that the ground floor arcades – which the square aims to complete - were already built. From an architectural perspective, one of the main peculiarities of a corner is obviously the difficulty that it represents in terms of composition and constructive solution. The corner is a complex space and, to some extent, it forces us to regard it as the foreshortening of the union between two façades. If we stand in front of it we see the building as if we were before the keel of a packet boat, and we immediately perceive the corner in itself as an element of the building. However, there is a further interesting peculiarity which affects both the corner and the city: corners go in pairs – we could even say that corner is synonym of pair - a pair which, however, is formed not by the two streets which intersect, but rather by the two buildings which help to provide it with meaning. Many times, these pairs are formed by chance; others, the pairs do not match or they have been relatively devised, as if they were due to a pre-established plan. The corners chosen at Olot’s square vaguely relate to this latter case, but the transformation of the city has left this pair unresolved, unfinished. And this is precisely the interesting part about the work created: that of re-building this pair, at least at nighttime. The false bay window built over the arcades of the square, in the site once occupied by a petrol station, aims to be a vaguely similar replica of the already existing bay window located on the opposite corner.Descripció
The ephemeral bay window has similar dimensions as its pair. It is 4m high, plus 1m in order to overcome the construction site’s handrail, and it is 12m long, with both sides of equal length. It was assembled and is basically supported with formwork materials, the main material used in the installation. Due to maximum allowable dimensions for transportation and assembly, it was built in four equal parts - completely finished at the workshop - in order to minimize risks and unforeseen site accidents. Each unit consists in a cage with 20 mm diameter deformed bars, formed by four vertical bars joined with two horizontal ones. At the front, the vertical bars unfold and the spacing is separated by another 16 mm round bar, resembling the proportion of the other bay window. The structure is covered with PVC foam panels and a geotextile sheet is tightened at the rear. Methacrylate panels with cellophane paper decorate the base and the upper part, suggesting a stained glass window weave. Once joined with wire, the four parts are stabilized with struts and hangers. Each bay window has 8 fluorescent lamps arranged at floor level so as to offer grazing light on the walls at the back, as well as table lamps, which are located at the corner of each bay window and fitted with a timing device which makes them turn on and off intermittently; as if they were winking at each other.Valoració
Comments by passersby during the night of Lluèrnia surprised us. The installation of the provisional bay window made some people become aware – for the first time – of the old bay window of Casa Artigas. But it also happened the other way round – there were people who took for granted that the installation aimed at lighting a second bay window which had always been there. Now that Lluèrnia is over, people from Olot and visitors of the city know the city’s heritage a little bit better. For some hours, the corner was complete.[Darrera actualització: 10/04/2019]
