[Paesaggio Urbano |Urban Design, #5-6.2013, Maggioli Editore ]
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Balancing Material, Colour and Light in a LEGO inspired stand for meetings, workshops and interviews at Restauro 2013
Realising a LEGO inspired stand is not probably a new idea. On the contrary, the project’s genesis is authentically original, stemming from an unexplored bond between LEGO bricks and architecture.
Few months ago, the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara introduced the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method to its students: that experience was described in this journal, analysing both the expected goals1 and the obtained results2.
Shortly, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method uses the bricks like a mediator to enhance relationships between people in an organisation or among individuals who are part of a project. The goal is conflicts’ resolution, strategic planning and team building. The experimentation consisted in applying the method, which is developed for businesses and companies, to a learning and educational environment.
The obtained results were so encouraging that the experience had been replicated at Restauro 2013, also requiring to build a special set to host workshops, meetings and interviews during the event.
There are two key intuitions that led the project. The first one, was inspired by LEGO, linked to the bricks’ shape and colour and their assembly. The second one focused on the space articulation: we wanted to build a room like a fish tank, an enclosed and protected area that also revealed the inner activities to external observers.
Cost, time, safety in construction and assembly, added to space’s usability and comfort, were key elements considered in the design process. The stand was conceived only for temporary use, but a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop may be four-eight hours long, with a dozen of people interacting. Stress and tiredness can be an adverse factor during a workshop or an interview and, for this reason, the environmental features can play a key role to create the most comfortable mood.
Material, Colour and Light constituted the balanced triad that determined and fulfilled the design requirements for such a small stand.
The stand’s skeleton was built with glued laminated timber frame. Two L-shape curtains built the central room, almost square shaped, opened on two opposite corners. The “fish tank” effect, or to say it better, to allow a view to external observers, without disturbing those who are in the room, the wall was built with alternated bricks and empty spaces, enhancing several small windows to look in. The wall thickness and, above all, the lights’ contrast (strongly enlightened in the inner space, but darker in the outer space), was made to minimize the external audience.
The 110 bricks was made of Styrofoam, a material selected for its low cost and for its lightness which is a good feature to build quickly and safely. Bricks was just placed one on the top of the other, stabilised by the friction and, if they felt down, wouldn’t cause damage. A Styrofoam wall also represented an efficient acoustic protection, damping the external noises.
Colour has been the main factor in the design process. The symbolic value of colours in LEGO is so strong that changing the original palette could sound like a hazard. For this reason, Francesca Valan’s expertise came into play. She is an industrial designer, who is familiar with the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method after being interviewed by Patrizia Bertini through the LSP based interviewing technique. Valan was colour consultant for LEGO and she has the perfect skills to face the problem.
The stand’s main goal was to preserve the “LEGO atmosphere” without losing comfort. The original LEGO colours have a high level of saturation on their plastic surfaces. Building a room with such saturated colours would result in an uncomfortable and alienating space, not suitable to host activities requiring reflection and interaction. Therefore, Valan decided to drop the original LEGO’s colours.
Thanks to Lechler’s support and sponsorship, Francesca Valan chose low saturated hues, like it were a sort of “quote” of the original LEGO colours. Thus, White becomes a White-Yellow and the other colurs, i.e., Yellow, Red, Purple, Blue and Green, are turned into low saturated chromatic accents. This choice also enabled colours to gain a sort of soft tactile consistency, as well. Saturated colours are generally perceived as abstract and detached, therefore to add a material effect to the composition, Valan added a Tonal Yellow, far from the LEGO standard colour, but close to the colours of the LEGO Architecture series, which were also displayed at the stand. Colours’ harmony is also obtained through a quantitative balance between complementary colours: green and red represented 10% of the total bricks each, a 20% of purple-blue bricks contrasted the 15% of yellow bricks and the wood elements; a further 12% of light blue bricks balanced the tonal yellow ones.
The varnish’s consistency, very thick yet easy to apply, changed the Styrofoam’s look, making it like a plastered surface, which was emphasised by warm and grazing lights.
Such a harmonic ensemble was completed by the table, which was made of 202 wooden boards and 144 smaller pieces, placed one on the top of the other, with no use of glue or nails but only screwed on top layers. This element was also meant to balance the coloured wall: it was a neutral and natural background, that contrasted the stand’s wall and the LEGO bricks used for workshop and interviews.
Carlo Bughi | Architect 