Designed by Patricia Urquiola – three spaces for three identities

Abstract

In the extensive meaning of interior spaces interrogating architectural quality and the experience of people inhabiting built spaces, it is the aim of this text to contribute to the reflection about interiors’ atmospheric quality. Interiors referring to the sensorial qualities a space sends out have impact in the subjective representation of the space and in the individual use of it. The projects of the contemporary Spanish born designer Patricia Urquiola (°1961) invite to a discussion about design of interiors aiming to conceive spaces with atmospheric quality that express identity. This text addresses from a phenomenological approach three different examples of different typologies and architectural programmes: Casa Moroso, Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Missoni Stores in Milan and Paris. The text concludes that the original achievement of these projects voice the relevance of creating interiors as empathic sceneries of spaces recognized from its identity character and image. It stresses that interior architecture takes a key role in creating places that emphasize architecture as a human experience of atmospheres.

Keywords:

Calidad atmosférica

identidad

interiores

luz

experiencia sensorial

sombra

Atmospheric quality

identity

interiors

light

ensorial experience

shadow

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