Impactful Entry Space: Melia Vienna Flow Bar
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Christian Jabornegg of Jabornegg & Palffy about the lobby design of Melia Vienna Flow Bar in Austria.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Christian Jabornegg: The lobby creates an identity in the interior and orientation and an overview.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Jabornegg: The architectural concept of Dominique Perrault forms the basis for our interventions, which on the one hand underline the existing concept with simple measures and the smallest possible number of elements, and on the other hand continue an independent development for the client, for example with the 40m long light strip of level0, which enables different lighting moods and movements. Simple measures are not only justified by economic reasons, but also the intention to highlight the fundamental meaning of the intervention, irrespective of the scale of the action.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Jabornegg: The predefined architectural design concept forms the basis for our considerations. In order to let the spatial and sculptural qualities of the cone-shaped staircase unfold, it was essential to choose a non-transparent material and surface and pay attention to its detailed design. The detail becomes the contour, because it is always the materialized expression of a concept and inseparably linked to it in order to be understood.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning the design into reality?
Jabornegg: Constraints are challenges that can improve the result.
GPI: What makes the space impactful?
Jabornegg: For us, the question of perceptible qualities is not linked to spectacular design objects, but means clearly showing meanings, and being able at the same time to develop their spatial qualities is the aspect which is our starting point to work out typologically clear but highly specific solutions within a context.
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Many thanks to Christian for sharing the design inspiration for this space. Stay tuned to our next Impactful Entry Space interview coming up in two weeks. For more visual inspiration, follow our Impactful Entry Space board on Pinterest.
Image credits: ABC News