Roca returns to Fuorisalone with a pavilion by Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects re-experiencing nature and paying tribute to 20th century Barcelona architecture

Nutura can be visited from the 17th to 26th of April in the courtyard of the Università degli Studi di Milano (Via Festa del Perdono 7) within the framework of Fuorisalone 2023 as part of the Interni Design Re-Evolution exhibition event.

Roca returns to the prestigious Milán Design Week 2023 with Nutura, designed by Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects, inspired by the light and textures of the Mediterranean. Nutura takes visitors on a sinuous and multisensory journey between undulating wood and ceramic walls where pylons and shutters create a game of lights, shadows, and textures. The name of the pavilion is a blend of Roca’s latest collections, Nu, by Inma Bermúdez and Tura, by Andreu Carulla, designed by award-winning Spanish designers.

A tribute to nature and 20th century Barcelona architecture, the pavilion perfectly integrates in the University’s Cortile d’Onore, surrounding and respecting an imposing Gingko Biloba tree.

For Benedetta Tagliabue, “Nutura can be enjoyed from the inside and from the outside. It is a place of peace, of rest, built with natural elements, and discovered little by little. When you enter, it is like walking into a world that overlooks the sea, a world related to the Mediterranean architecture of Coderch”.

The organic shapes and the combination of neutral colours, from the different tones of brown to the various shades of blue, are reminiscent of the land and the sea. “Echoes of the Mediterranean”, Benedetta Tagliabue says, “elements of nature with which visitors slowly interact”.

The selection of colours for the ceramics features allegorical drawings of Nu and Tura products. Following the design of Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects, Ceràmica Cumella, in collaboration with the Architecture Institute IAAC (Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña), combines traditional craftsmanship with technology.

A sea of floating letters on the ground can be discovered as the visitor walks through the space, or from a different vantage point, revealing a message hidden on the floor. The path culminates in a kind of square, where the visitor can relax and enjoy the view over the beautiful Renaissance Cortile d'Onore.

The natural materials contrast with a digital creation by the 3D artists Julia Ippolito and Joe Mortell, under the artistic direction of Isern Serra. “Mediterranean Metaverse: an oneiric journey” transforms Nutura into an immersive experience while it presents a third bathroom collection, Ona, through a surrealist world of captivating images also inspired by the landscape, colours, and light of the Mediterranean.

For Marc Viardot, Roca's Corporate Marketing and Design Director, “Milan Design Week is the global stage to present what a brand stands for. Each presentation is a snapshot that brings the brand to life with all its history and the many intangible layers. The collaboration with Benedetta Tagliabue intriguingly represents Roca’s DNA and becomes part of it at this very moment.”

In harmony with the motto Re-Evolution and with a view to environmental sustainability, all the materials that make up the pavilion will be disassembled, recovered, and used in other installations and exhibitions around the world.

About Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects

Benedetta Tagliabue is the lead architect and director of EMBT Architects, founded in 1994 in Barcelona with Enric Miralles (1955–2000), with offices in Barcelona (HQ), Shanghai, and Paris.

Her most notable works include the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the Santa Caterina Market, the Headquarters of Gas Natural Fenosa and Diagonal Mar Park in Barcelona, the Spanish Pavilion at the World Expo Shanghai 2010 (winner of the RIBA Best International Building 2011 Award), the Kálida Sant Pau Centre in Barcelona – Part of the Maggie’s Centres International Network.

Recent works include the Church and Parish Complex ‘San Giacomo Apóstolo’ in Ferrara (awarded with the Dedalo Minosse International Prize 2022), the Ceramiche Ragno Flagship Showroom in Milan and the ChinaTrust office tower in Taichung. EMBT Architects is constructing the Fudan University Business School in Shanghai, the Clichy-Montfermeil metro station in Paris (first prize in the competition) and the Naples Underground Central Station.

In the academic field, Benedetta Tagliabue is visiting professor at Harvard University, Columbia University and ETSAB in Barcelona. She is a member of the jury of such prestigious international awards, as the Pritzker Architecture Prize (since 2014), the Princesa de Asturias de las Artes (2011–2022), and the Loewe Craft Prize, among others. Moreover, her work earned her the RIBA Stirling Prize (2005), the National Spanish Prize (2006), the Catalan National Prize (2002) and the FAD (2000, 2003, 2007). In addition, she is the president of Fundació Enric Miralles.

www.mirallestagliabue.com