86 CONTENT IN ENGLISH 027 CD ESiC: Japanese architecture and the works of architects such as Mies van der Rohe have been a great influence in your works. What attracts you to them? RCR: What sparks our interest in Japanese culture in gen- eral, not only in their architecture, is their sense of per- fection, of the exquisite, their cult of nature. Regarding architects such as Miles van der Rohe or Donald Judd, to name a few, is their search for transcendental beauty in their work. ESiC: How did the idea of Laboratory Barberi and its summer courses arise? RCR: It was born to transmit, reflect and receive energy in a multicultural medium. As a matter of fact, the only requi- site to assist to the courses was to come open to encounter a unique experience. ESiC: What would be your advice for a young person wishing to pursue lighting design? RCR: Our advice, surely, would be to be moved by the dawn’s early light shining on the morning dew. ESiC: You created the RCR Bunka Foundation to stimu- late the appreciation between the society of architec- ture and landscape. What milestones have you accom- plished? RCR: We created this foundation to stimulate the appre- ciation between the society of architecture and landscape. We can state that we have made architecture a topic for discussion. RiC: Can you give us a preview of the Catalan pavilion for the coming Architectural Biennial in Venice? How was the work team elected as co-commissioner, jointly with Pati Nuñez and Estel Ortega? RCR: At the Biennial in Venice, we will talk about our dream, the one we began to shape, the present one we are building. The co-commission came about - it couldn’t have been any other way - through a contest convened by the Ramon Llull Institute. “Architecture is the art of materializing dreams on a long journey. It’s a way of life”. “At the Biennial in Venice, we will talk about our dream, the one we began to shape, the present one we are building”. MAURICI GINÉS “THE ARCHITECHTURE OF RCR HAS SOUL AND LIGHTING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE ECUATION” Designer Maurici Ginés, founder of Ar- tec3 Studio, says that in order to create a good lighting project for a space it is key to assume the intentions of the ar- chitect as your own through the lighting. This is easily done when an architecture firm considers the immaterial aspects of a project as much as RCR does; Artec3 shares a unique chemistry with them. We have only to look at some of the projects they have done together to see that light, space and materials form a whole: The Soulages Museum in France, restaurant Enigma, of Albert Adriá in Barcelona and the award-winning Lagares Showroom. We talked to Maurici Ginés about the magical equation between both studies. Editorial Staff iCandela: In 2016 Arctec3 worked to- gether with RCR studio in the lighting design of the Soulages Museum, in Rodez (France). What meth- odology did you use and what were the challenges of the project? How did the work with the architects develop? Maurici Ginés: This project developed in a very particu- lar way because we worked in natural light design and in artificial light design. We were striving to create lighting atmospheres responding to the architecture and to Pierre Soulages’ work. I had already been part of a project de signing the natural lighting in a building, but this was the first time that we worked on creating an atmosphere for each room in relation to the exhibited works of art. The natural light that shone through the skylights was sup- plemented with artificial lighting, integrated in its own geometry to maintain the ambiance and the sensation of light. We also had a system of artificial accent lights to highlight the works of art exhibited. Another interesting challenge was the lighting of de “Noirs” collection at the Museum. These are pieces that reflect the light that shines on them creating various visual compositions of the same piece, depending on the location of the observer. They have to be illuminated very subtly in order to achieve the feeling and expression that Pierre Soulages was expecting. On this occasion, in addi- tion to ambient light, we basically used leds limiters with lenses, for to the soft and veiled reflection they give. Working with RCR Architects is very stimulating and interesting. Lighting has an important role in their ar- chitecture which is a great opportunity to reflect on the relationship between light, space and materials with the purpose of finding the necessary sensibility to communi- cate a place through light. ESiC: For the lighting of the restaurant Enigma of Albert Adriá, a cloud of leds, as enigmatic as the res- taurant’s name, was presented. How did you come up with this idea? On what measure of light and architec- tural space did you ground yourselves to create such a labyrinthine and suggestive interior? MG: The idea of the cloud came from RCR, it was part of their concept for the restaurant. The intention was to find a neutral space, born from abstraction, to enhance and elevate the gastronomic experience in the place, blurring materiality through light, reflections and veils. The de- sign of the cloud was a joint process being that its com- position depended substantially on light. The lighting was achieved through several layers: the material layer was created by the architects and the lighting layer by us. In general, the cloud had in its interior two matrixes of 2w leds, white light of 4000oK and RGBW light, placed at 60 centimeters of each other; a diffusing layer was placed under the leds to achieve light densities, another layer was a transparent support, attached to the diffus-