![]() ![]() Additionally, the product is lightweight and easy to install, making Neolith suitable for virtually every indoor and outdoor surface. The product is also wear, scratch, heat resistant and its colours, being natural base, do not vary when exposed to UV rays. Neolith® has near-zero porosity, making the product hygienic, stain resistant, easy to clean and impervious to chemicals. The product is 100 percent natural, composed of raw material – clays, feldspar, silica and natural mineral oxides, and is recyclable. The Neolith® brand is the outcome of the latest research and development processes in the industry. Shadows, transparencies, and a watery presence, nebular.” Between materiality and conformation, a whole series of organic movements are created. It is an enveloping space that melts, disappears, almost a labyrinth. ENIGMA truly is full of surprises the architects say: “We like the idea that it is an Enigma, which is difficult to explain. Completing the scene is the ENIGMA staff, whose uniforms have also been designed by RCR/P. ![]() Together they created a project that is truly spectacular in terms of design, material quality, food, and surprisingly fashion. This way, the installers on location were able to piece the interior together like a puzzle.Īlbert Adrià, RCR Arquitectes and Neolith are all award winners within their respective industries. Taking inspiration from a map, a coordinate system was put into place, uniquely labelling every single slab to know its exact position in the project. Absolute precision was key to guarantee the uniformity of the watercolour design. Llimona designed an organic space full of curves and narrow aisles and required the slabs to be cut down into six smaller pieces, the smallest being only 3 cm wide. Neolith initially installed the entire floor off-site and used a drone to take images from above, thus ensuring that there were no inconsistencies. However, the only way to get a full picture of the puzzle required some creative problem-solving and a change of perspective. Each slab is unique and had to be perfectly put together in order to deliver a continuous design. ![]() The floor presented the biggest challenge because of its sheer size. We have been so surprised by its possibilities that we are now using it for other projects”, RCR explain. “Neolith is a contemporary material with many properties. The architects wanted every slab to be of irregular texture like Neolith’s Riverwashed, but with a subtle shine to provide a surface that is multisensory – interesting to the eye and inviting to touch. Using Neolith’s proprietary digital printing decoration technology NDD (Neolith Digital Design), the architect’s design brief was fully met. The intensity of the colours had to fit in with the other materials and decorations throughout the restaurant as to achieve a unified environment, fully submerging diners. Once this was achieved, an exact colour match had to be sourced, as the required green and blue tones are unusual hues for sintered surfaces. Each pixel was equal to two meters of final floor.” Through R&D, Neolith developed the technology to re-create the design onto slabs, producing a perfect replica of the drawing. However, a watercolour design has not been done on Sintered Stone before, thus posing an unprecedented challenge.Ĭarlos Garcia, Product Designer at TheSize explains: “We had to expand the original design, all the while trying not to lose the quality of definition offered by the original drawing. The pivotal moment in terms of design came when RCR in collaboration with architect Pau Llimona drew a watercolour painting in the size of two A3 papers, which was to be applied to the floors, walls, bathrooms, kitchen worktops, cabinetry and air extraction systems. The chef’s style of cooking and menu is heavily influenced by the surroundings, hence, the interior had to reflect that. The chef wanted to create and immersive environment to captivate his guests. Having worked on the design proposal for three years, Adrià wanted to ensure the perfect outcome for his passion project. Through an incredibly creative and close collaboration, as well as Neolith’s expertise and technical know-how, the enchanting, out of this world interior of ENIGMA was created. His vision took shape when 2017 Pritzker Prize winners RCR Arquitectes drew their design idea in watercolours and decided to bring it to life with the help of Neolith® by TheSize, manufacturer and designer of Sintered Stone. The story of ENIGMA started with renowned Catalan chef Albert Adrià’s vision to create an ‘out of this world and enigmatic’ restaurant project that was to reflect his cuisine as well as his career. Neolith®’s most ambitious project to date realised in collaboration with RCR Arquitectes ![]()
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