Roca Arrives at Fuorisalone with Influence, an Immersive Installation Paying Homage to Mediterranean Culture and Architecture
06/06/2022
The installation, designed by Cobalto Studio, was inspired by vernacular Mediterranean aesthetics and Roca’s new Ona collection
Roca brings the Mediterranean to Milan with Influence, a large-scale architectural installation now on display at the University of Milan (Via Festa del Perdono, 7). The installation takes place as a part of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation and is open until the 13th of June.
“Roca’s first appearance at Salone marks a strategic milestone in the company’s long history,” states Marc Viardot, Roca Group Director of Marketing and Design. “When Salone turns Milan into the hub for global project business, we are showing to the architecture and design world the aspirational side of our brand. Influence epitomises the origins of Roca with a deep sensibility for materials and design.”
Designed by Barcelona based Cobalto Studio, Influence explores the vernacular architecture of the Mediterranean, honoring its idiosyncrasies and exploring its relationship with contemporary artistic practices. Cobalto’s approach to design emphasises the importance of this culture and heritage in all their works, and Influence is no exception. Cobalto Studio founder Gabriel Escámez adds: "Influence is a space for reflection where, through the senses, we can form an understanding of and connection to that which surrounds us.”
Cobalto Studio took as a starting point the talaiots, Bronze Age megaliths found on the islands of Menorca and Majorca. Gabriel Escámez and his team explored the design of these enigmatic structures, finding in them a link to the needs of present: to seek an appreciation of the most elemental and essential. The Barcelona-based studio explains: "At the core of this installation is the vernacular architecture of the Mediterranean and the reasons why it remains relevant today.”
Influence seeks to induce the sense of peace and natural wonder evoked by the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. To achieve this, the installation makes use of REDEXT, data related to waves and tides collected by a network of buoys off the Menorcan coast. Roca and Cobalto have analysed that data, marking the peaks and troughs of the waves and translating them into the pulsating waves of golden light that illuminate Influence. Each wash of light and darkness that comes over the space mirrors the exact movements of a wave recorded by the REDEXT system, recalling the sensation of being submerged in the waters of the Mediterranean. It evokes the light of the sun, which nourishes the land, and the moon, which creates the tides. Gabriel Escámez describes the result as “immersion in the beating heart that resides in the depths of the Mare Nostrum".
Throughout Influence can be found selected pieces from the Ona collection, whose soft shapes and warm colours are the ideal complement to the naturalist and vernacular aesthetic of the installation. Like traditional Mediterranean architecture, Ona seeks to create spaces of wellness, purity and connection.
Roca’s newest collection for the bathroom space, Ona combines innovative design and cutting-edge technology to achieve new standards of hygiene, comfort and sustainability.
As part of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation event, which aims to generate new design proposals in which sustainability is the key to a new way of living, Influence employs reusable materials and borrows from the notion of resource optimisation - making the most of available resources while generating the smallest environmental impact.
Roca's installation offers an open dialogue between philosophy, materiality and sustainability, enriched with a sensory experience. The result is an authentic, immersive installation that transports visitors to a Mediterranean oasis.