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Pulsate: Architects Design a Dizzying Tile Showroom in London

Pulsate: Architects Design a Dizzying Tile Showroom in London

The Capitol Designer Studio in London’s Primrose Hill was recently outfitted with an electrified-looking array of porcelain tiles by architects Lily Jencks and Nathanael Dorent. The installation, called Pulsate, draws from images of Op Art and Gestalt psychology creating an almost dizzying effect, zigzagging from dark gray tiles to light gray tiles and back again. The result is a space where perspective is distorted and where benches are lost along walls.

However, the temporary installation is also a retail shop, the product being the very SistemN tiles by Marazzi lining the walls. As Jencks explains on the project website, there were two concepts that drove the installation: “One is about perception—how you perceive distances and shapes; and make sense of space. The other is about how to display an object that’s for sale; we wanted the space to be more than just a showroom selling tiles; to rethink the commercial transaction as something more creative.”

Each tile was meticulously placed to complete the intricate design. If one tile was even a millimeter off, the whole pattern would be off. The ground slopes and the tiles are spread 360 degrees throughout the studio. Lights run along the seams between floor and wall and wall and ceiling, offering the slightest bit of assurance of the studios form. During the nine months the installation stands, the space will host fashion shoots, lectures, and product lunches.


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