An installation at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden is made entirely of translucent concrete panels. Composed of concrete and bubble wrap, the site blends both high and low technology processes. This high-tech lecture hall is an amorphous space with unique acoustic qualities.
The panels were created by compressing High-Performance Concrete between two layers of Bubble-Wrap. With 262,500 cavities and 1,000,000 membrane-perforations, the material creates a diffused echo-free ambiance.
The Subterranean Concrete Orgy by Toki Drobnjakovic and Per Sundberg (Per & Toki) is a reinvention of the "infamous" Blue Star building in Stockholm. The designers, looking for a new studio and office space for Studioverket, have collaborated with concrete producer Butong to realize a space of "homogenous diversity" by using a new type of concrete sealed air bubble casting. By incorporating new design features and in reinventing some of the existing, the basement space has been transformed from pornography shop to elegant studio defined by a series of unique interventions. See the changes after the break...
Butong, originally a Swedish-based firm, specializes in a unique concrete moulding process which offers a wider range of freedom to designers. We’ve featured Butong previously on ArchDaily as their product was used for Visiondivison’s Cancer City resulting in an amazing lightweight slightly-transparent concrete landscape. The company has just shared their latest collaborative work – an installation between the Collectifs Cochenko and Quatorze as part of the drug awareness campaign commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture and MILDT. The project, translated to “Space, light, sound and drugs,” creates a sensory environment combined with a personal experience due to the visitor’s movement and mindset.
More images and more about the project after the break.