Alice behind the mirror.
A fence into a game.
Mirror gate
Córdoba, ARG
Year 2020
Photos: Guadalupe Fassi
This project reflects basically how an architecture commission could be positively manipulated to be turned into something “more” –more useful, more reflective, more interesting, from what it was originally expected or asked. The project emphases on the effect of vanishing as a result of reflection.
In this particular case, the client –who owns an ice-cream store- needed a gate to secure a deposit. This was his main concern. After visiting the site, I understood that this storage room had its access just from a small playground which is used by those children that come to the ice-cream shop. In some way, this door had the purpose to hide something from the public (the deposit room), and at the same time, that room could be hidden by enabling a reflection or a reproduction of the “positive space”, the playground. Hence, the final project resulted in a dual gate, once that has two purposes and, as a result, two faces. The back side of the door is made of heavy metal bars, which give to this gate the strength to be a safety door; whereas the front side of the gate is made of thin stainless steel sheets which make the actual door disappear, as its peculiarity has turned the gate into a funny object to approach to and play with.
The intention of using this material –the stainless steel sheets- has been in my mind for some time. After the experience with the Rural Restrooms I discovered how galvanized metal can produce some reflections of the country’s landscape and I have been interested in experiencing this material as a way to engage people differently with the architecture object. This is also strongly connected with some other images from com- mon things I got obsessed with. My main obsession at that time was with coffee carts which are always made (because of a hygiene food act) of this stainless steel metal –which is actually quite cheap-. I collected a series of pictures of these small carts and while producing the project I also got in contact with other architectureworks that are related with this idea of hiding things by reflecting others.
In this particular case, the client –who owns an ice-cream store- needed a gate to secure a deposit. This was his main concern. After visiting the site, I understood that this storage room had its access just from a small playground which is used by those children that come to the ice-cream shop. In some way, this door had the purpose to hide something from the public (the deposit room), and at the same time, that room could be hidden by enabling a reflection or a reproduction of the “positive space”, the playground. Hence, the final project resulted in a dual gate, once that has two purposes and, as a result, two faces. The back side of the door is made of heavy metal bars, which give to this gate the strength to be a safety door; whereas the front side of the gate is made of thin stainless steel sheets which make the actual door disappear, as its peculiarity has turned the gate into a funny object to approach to and play with.
The intention of using this material –the stainless steel sheets- has been in my mind for some time. After the experience with the Rural Restrooms I discovered how galvanized metal can produce some reflections of the country’s landscape and I have been interested in experiencing this material as a way to engage people differently with the architecture object. This is also strongly connected with some other images from com- mon things I got obsessed with. My main obsession at that time was with coffee carts which are always made (because of a hygiene food act) of this stainless steel metal –which is actually quite cheap-. I collected a series of pictures of these small carts and while producing the project I also got in contact with other architectureworks that are related with this idea of hiding things by reflecting others.