Where Time Stops

Added : 10 Oct 2010 | Visits : 2395 | Average votes : %

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Designed by Parasite studio, Blackbox,a gaming zone, is designed like a space where one is not aware of the dimension of time.

Designed by Parasite Studio this 2000sqm gaming zone is located in Lulius mall in Romania includes bowling, billairds, darts and club facilities. According to the brief, the design was to create a space which would be a world in itself and one wouldn’t be aware of the time passing. The controlled atmopsphere indoors would have no relation with the outside world.

The design solution proposed by the architects was a black box. Both as a concept and as a form it was an abstract space which was locked within itself. The existing windows acted as showcases for exhibiting and communicating akin to dynamic information screens.

The interiors though posed a challenge. Due to the existing layout of technical areas and the criss cross steel structure, configuring the space by organising it within a concept proved difficult. When hiding and ignoring the massive steel structure did not work, the architects decided to integrate it within the design by imposing two elements over the original structure. A continuous strip of the perimeter walls that wraps up the entire space is one such element. It also encloses within it the technical areas and the support functions of the club. It also demarcates the bar, the projection wall, the smokers area and the gaming zone.

The other element introduced by the architects is artificial lighting that discretely divides the space, according to the functions, through its intensity and colour scheme. the interiors can thus be categorised as dynamic areas for gaming, static area for bar and seating and intermediate area for interaction.

The only place in the club, where there is filtered contact with the outdoors is the central cylinder. Natural light enters the base of the wall discretely indictaing the passage of time.

The design of the furniture has been customised and follows the same theme. The carpet on the floor has been designed like an interior map that charts the different functional areas by the use of printed texts and paths. This adds to the fact that the entire space can be read as a communicating body that facilitates the movement within it and the reading of the separate areas.

The project creates a strong conceptual identity themed around the idea of Blackbox. The logo, the furniture and all the other elements of the interiors define the entire interior context.

Text: Hina Nitesh
Photographs: Courtesy the architects