anna & eugeni bach occupies stone cellar with festive and infinite installation 'sticks & stones'

architecture studio anna & eugeni bach unveils ‘sticks & stones,’ a dizzying subterranean installation within the vaulted cellar of san gregorio in logroño, spain. the whimsical intervention is realized as part of the ‘concéntrico‘ international festival of architecture and design. an intriguing artifact, at first it appears simply as a wooden wall that blocks the visitor’s path and occupies the entirety of the barrel-vaulted space. the plywood scaffolding suggests a temporality, light and removable. the obstruction fills the total profile of the corridor, which is in contrast stonelike, heavy and stable. 

images by eugeni bach, javier antón

upon approach, anna & eugeni bach’s ‘sticks and stones’ reveals a narrow passage through, by way of a hidden sliding door. behind lies a curtain to be drawn in order to enter. the viewer is suddenly presented with a dramatic atmospheric transformation. what was once an austere, cellar corridor of stone vaulting becomes an entirely new environment — a light, festive, ephemeral, and tectonic space. while compact, the striped canvas room seems to stretch to infinity.

the team at anna & eugeni bach elaborates on its ‘sticks & stones’ installation: ‘after the experience, both spaces, stone and textile, heavy and light, vaulted and catenary, severe and festive, stereotomic and tectonic, overlap and allow for an understanding of the cellar that reflects both its reason for being and its opposite. as stated in lewis mumford’s famous book on the history of american architecture, once a space is apprehended in its essence, everything can be summed up by what it contains: ‘sticks and stones.’ 

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project info:

project title: sticks & stones

design: anna & eugeni bach

location: calado de san gregorio, logroño, spain

collaborators: mariana vala (A&EB)

client: concéntrico: international festival of architecture and design

curator: javier peña

construction: PROSMA

material: GARNICA

completion: 2020

photography: eugeni bach, javier antón