ALIS: Barcelona multipurpose halls

“I wanted the hall to have a distinctive appearance, instead of that sport-arena look that most multipurpose halls show. I yearned for a solid, noble and defined hall, both with and without seats”, said Lluis Dilmé, the architect in charge of the project, together with his partner Xavier Fabré.

Easy to understand, hard to achieve. Working with architects entails these challenges. An interesting opportunity for Alis.

The project had, among other, the purpose of supplying the City Council with a practical hall, not only useful as an auditorium or performing arts centre, but also as a place for celebrations, balls and rehearsals. Moreover, the architects intended to endow the hall with varied configuration and capacities, depending on the necessary room and seats for a specific performance.
“Cool! This is the kind of Project we can really work in! There is a difference, and the difference requires our expertise!”, said Jordi Valverde, Alis’ CEO. Carles Vives, the commercial manager, got even more excited with his reaction, for he
realized that the chances to get the contract grew higher. Jordi hates to waste time in projects where there is a lot of competition and not many technical or aesthetical requirements, making lower price the key factor to grant the contract,
since all bidders would apparently be able to execute it.
The Architects’ vision was praiseworthy: they wanted to provide the hall with an almost complete functionality. On the one hand, apart from those designed for the audience, there were accesses to the hall directly from outdoors, from the dressing rooms, and even from the area designated for catering. Besides, lighting and acoustics were optimal. On the other hand, stage floor was at ground level, not lifted up, thus facilitating the access to actors and performers. However, “I don’t want the audience to look at the performance as if it is taking place on the ground, but in a stage”, requested Dilmé.

Alis has been founded with the main purpose of working together with architects, distributors and designers, in order to reach perfect integration of the furniture in the architectural project.
Dimensions and layout were pretty simple: rectangular ground floor, side access for the audience, no obstacles or height variations. Bearing in mind the objective of functionality and multiple configurations, it was suggested to install a telescopic platform and, in addition, some additional rows concealed under the pavement. All in all, with the guiding principle of distinction, and with an appearance aesthetically closer to a theatre than to an arena.
In order to achieve the objective, providing maximal capacity to the platform, Alis suggested the Sit-Book. The Sit-Book implies an innovative design; “basic, simple and minimalist, effective; yet, there is no similar product in the market!”, said Jordi Valverde, while showing the original sketches, drafted three years ago. He and Anna Gutiérrez, designerin-chief, started with the design in order to have a seat basically conceived for platforms: minimal mechanics, in order to avoid maintenance costs, and very little storing room, in order to facilitate as many levels and units as possible. Besides, aesthetics was a must (not in vain it has been distinguished with a RED DOT AWARD.

Furthermore, the architects wanted the audience looking at the performance as if taking place on a stage. “It’s great working with a supplier we get by. That’s how we got it!”, stated Dilmé. ‘It’ was, in fact, a tilting platform, additional and independent of the telescopic platform, hidden underneath the floor, onto which the concealed rows were installed. Each row was divided in groups of two seats, “packed” in boxes. Their cover was the same parquet-finishing of the hall. The tilting platform met two basic functions: on the one hand, it would keep the harmony with the telescopic platform, since slope variation would not be so abrupt, and isoptics (i.e. a neat line of sight for all users) would be respected.
On the other hand, the audience would have the perception of being in front of a stage, since the platform placed the front rows a little below ground level. In short, the project finally met all functional and aesthetical requirements: The hall could be “presented” as an auditorium (with various capacities both for the stage and for the stalls), as well as a “dance floor”, completely empty and accessible.

Sit Book boxes: these seats are, as a matter of fact, a variation from the Sit Book installed on the telescopic platforms, with the same appearance but slightly different engineering. They are fixed vertically onto the inner surface of the box cover, which has the same finishing of the outer surface as the hall’s pavement.
Sit Book Alis line of business was originally focused on seating and complements, specializing in auditorium and large installations. However, as a result of the cooperation with architects, it also develops and commercializes urban furniture
and some other items, and assists customers on layout and installation. The key and outstanding factor is clear and simple; the customer does not need to choose a product from a catalogue any more, for Alis has the means and knowhow required to develop an idea.

ALIS
www.alis.es

Contact: AE Internacional
ae@arqa.com

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