Liquid Light

A workers cooperative, built in Barcelona in 1924, had been abandoned for about 30 years: rain, wind and pigeons were getting in, gradually destroying the building. The roof had a hole and the sunlight penetrated, a ray of light right at the centre of the old scenery. We read this not as a menace of destruction, but as an optimistic sign of a new possible future. The rehabilitation of the old workers cooperative turned it into the new Sala Beckett Theatre and Drama Centre, a place dedicated to promote new drama stories and to put them on stage for the first time. Now, a ray of natural light is kept inside the building, changing the atmosphere of its central circulation space throughout the year. Our proposal for Freespace is to bring this ray of natural light inside the show. A fragment of Sala Beckett is built in the Arsenale at real scale, a piece that can be inhabited, offering the spatial experience of something far away. The fragment is a replica of the Sala Beckett’s skylight in Barcelona, but the light which makes it work is original, it is Venice’s light.

Flores & Prats Architects

Collaborators: Nina Andreatta, Jorge Casajús, Judith Casas, Eline Cooman, Inès Martinel and Rebeca Lopez.

Structural adviser: Juan Ignacio Eskubi.

Lightning adviser: Maria Güell / La Invissible.

Coordination and construction: Art% + Tempo.

Special thanks to: Adrià Goula Photo, 15-L Films and Curro Claret.

With the additional support of: Institut Ramon Llull, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Figueras International Seating, EGM Laboratoris Color and Cooperativa Jordi Capell.