There is a trend towards sustainability in the field of architecture, industry and design today, which aims to provide innovative solutions to chart the path towards well-being. A route between beauty and sustainability, nature and future, which, far from creating division, instead brings all these elements together.
The Board of Spanish Architects’ Associations (CSCAE) has organised the ARQUITECTURA Awards in recognition of innovation of this kind. The idea is to show the public how architecture contributes to creating a better, fairer and more sustainable society. COMPAC is committed to its role in creating a sustainable future. And true to this aim, it is an official sponsor in this first edition of the awards.
As a result, the winning projects will be awarded a special trophy chosen from the designs submitted to the Sculpture Competition, ‘TOITS’ was crowned the winning entry. This design was officially presented at the new COMPAC showroom: Salon, the Matter Mastering Immersion.
With fantastic success in the call for submissions to the Sculpture Competition, TOITS, designed by OA Studio, was awarded for its original concept and compositional versatility, as well as its clear sustainable nature achieved with Obsidiana COMPAC.
“The winning design has captured the spirit of the new awards’ format, with which we strive to bring architecture even closer to society, disseminating its values and its ability to boost people’s well-being.”
Marta Vall-llossera, President of CSCAE.
Toits, sustainability through material.
Within the Sculpture Competition, COMPAC materials were selected to sculpt this artistic application of great beauty, together with a sustainable creation taking its inspiration from nature.
As such, the pieces had to be unique and innovative, through two carefully selected materials, available in various colours and finishes: Obsidiana COMPAC (Volcano Fog and Volcano Pearl designs) and Terrazzo COMPAC (Micro Nacarado and Micro Thassos designs).
Obsidiana COMPAC, in the Volcano Fog design with glacé finish, was chosen by OA Studio for the trophy’s composition, as it presents a means of finding inspiration in nature, in order to continue enjoying a nature that inspires. This is a constant ideology that COMPAC has been working on since its creation.
As such, Obsidiana COMPAC is indicative of a technical revolution able to produce a material that is remarkable for being made from 100% recycled and recyclable glass. It is also one of the brand’s most versatile and flexible materials. This material has breathed life into geometric forms representing the roofs of houses.
With this material, beauty and nature combine, illustrating the philosophy of Ethical Beauty. A philosophy that COMPAC has embraced in its commitment to devising creative solutions on this infinite and necessary path towards the future. A more sustainable future, using materials that care for the well-being of mankind and the environment.
The CSCAE, COMPAC and the team at OA Studio presented the sculpture at the COMPAC SALON in Gandía, Valencia (Spain). A site created based on the importance of allowing professionals to experience, touch and feel materials in their various applications and sizes.
‘TOITS’ concept and composition. Ancestral morphology, full of future possibilities.
A simple geometry based on the collective imaginary, offering the abstract idea of a representation of primitive architecture. As a result, only five lines are required to simply represent this very neat conceptual finish.
A house with a gabled roof. This ancestral structure which has served as inspiration for artists such as Paul Klee, results in a sculpture with a ground-breaking yet harmonious concept. A sculpture that has elements of culture, architecture and urban development.
Motivated by invisible, imagined and possible cities, such as those of Ítalo Calvino, the TOITS project inspires the urban fabric through its stone silhouettes of interlocking volumes that overlap and repeat, until they come up with different positions and magical heights.
‘TOITS’, versatility and playfulness
In terms of composition, therefore, this piece is extraordinary thanks to its enormous versatility and playfulness, which embraces the necessary sustainability currently demanded from industry, architecture and design. Two interlocking volumes, formed of repetitions and overlaps, can have various forms, evoking unexpected compositions. The entire geometry of the piece is based on the triangle that forms the A for architects of the CSCAE logo, inspired by the compass of the master stonemasons. However, at the same time, the overlapping and addition of these As can be interpreted as a set of houses, whose roofs embody the tectonic idea of our sculpture.
“We play with the abstract shape of a house, conceived from the idea of the stacking toy, as a nod to our inner child: who plays, who experiments, who has fun without fear and whose creativity is so necessary and, at the same time, so difficult to maintain in our profession. We hope that the winners of the ARQUITECTURA Awards enjoy TOITS and remember this creative and simple nature of playing.”
Ana Muñoz Pérez (OA Studio) during TOITS’ presentation at Salon, the Matter Mastering Immersion (COMPAC Showroom)
TOITS represents the interaction between buildings and housing, between inhabited and habitable spaces, as necessary places in which to create a living and moving city. Art, design, architecture and industry interlace to create a future, beyond the surface.
