Neolith’s most ambitious project to date has been realised in collaboration with Pritzker Prize-winning RCR Arquitectes
In association with
The story of Enigma started when renowned Catalan chef Albert Adrià decided to create an ‘out of this world and enigmatic’ restaurant in Barcelona that would reflect his cuisine and career. His vision took shape when the 2017 Pritzker Prize-winning practice RCR Arquitectes decided to bring its design ideas to life using Neolith, a premium sintered stone by TheSize.
Having worked on the design proposal for three years, Adrià wanted the perfect outcome for his passion project – an immersive environment that would entrance his guests. The chef’s style of cooking and menu is heavily influenced by its surroundings, so the interior had to reflect that. A close and creative collaboration incorporating Neolith’s expertise and technical know-how has resulted in a captivating dining space.
From paper to slab
The pivotal moment in terms of the design came when RCR, in collaboration with fellow architect Pau Llimona, painted a large watercolour design which was to be applied to the floors, walls, bathrooms, kitchen worktops, cabinetry and air extraction systems. This posed a particular challenge, as it had not been done before using sintered stone. Carlos 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 painting. Each pixel was equal to almost one-square-metre of final floor.” Through R&D, Neolith developed the technology to re-create the design onto slabs, producing a perfect replica of the painting.
Each slab is unique and had to be perfectly aligned in order to maintain a continuous design”
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. The intensity of the colours also had to complement the other materials and fittings used in the restaurant. Neolith’s proprietary digital printing decoration technology NDD (Neolith Digital Design), ensured that the design brief was met in full.
The architect wanted every slab to be irregularly textured – like Neolith’s Riverwashed product – but with a subtle shine to provide a multisensory surface that is interesting to the eye and inviting to the touch. “Neolith is a contemporary material with many properties. We have been so surprised by its possibilities that we are now using it on other projects”, explains RCR Arquitectes.
Installation
The floor presented the biggest challenge due to its sheer size. Each slab is unique and had to be perfectly aligned in order to maintain a continuous design. This required some creative problem solving and a change of perspective. Neolith initially installed the entire floor off-site and used images from a drone to ensure that there were no inconsistencies.
The restaurant’s curving organic spaces and narrow aisles meant that the slabs had to be cut into six pieces – the smallest measuring only 30mm wide. Every slab was labelled using a coordinate system, enabling the installers to piece the interior together like a giant puzzle. Absolute precision was key to achieving the uniformity of the original watercolour design.
This is Enigma
Albert Adrià, RCR Arquitectes and Neolith are all award winners within their respective fields. Together they have created a spectacular project in terms of design, material quality, food, and even fashion – completing the scene are the Enigma staff, whose uniforms have also been designed by RCR and Pau Llimona. “We like the idea of an enigma that is difficult to explain”, says RCR. “It is an enveloping space that melts and disappears, like a labyrinth. Between materiality and conformation, a whole series of organic movements are created. Shadows, transparencies, and a watery presence, nebular.”
