Coinciding with the Hábitat Valencia fair, the Mut Design studio invited us to the presentation of its Das Haus 2020 project. The installation will be on show at the next edition of the IMM fair in Cologne from 13 to 19 January 2020. Creating this emblematic house is a unique opportunity for the Spanish studio, which was chosen by this salon from among many design studios around the world.
Eduardo Villalón and Alberto Sánchez, founders of the studio, revealed the main aspects of the project to the international media at a press conference organised by the IMM fair. They exhibited a model of their installation of La Barraca del Palmar, a house in the traditional Valencian style of architecture and set in a natural area that is unique in Europe; the Albufera de Valencia Nature Reserve, whose houses served as a source of inspiration for the project.
For these Spanish designers, the ideal home is an open one where the outdoors and the indoors come together seamlessly, and where there are no barriers between the two. This is the essence of what their installation aims to convey. There is just a small space, hidden at its heart, that is private: the courtyard, or patio – a feature whose roots lie in Spain’s Roman and Arab heritage. The idea is to transport to Germany the light of the Mediterranean, thus reflecting an age-old Spanish way of life, yet at the same time offering it as a way of life for the future. Speaking to us, they said, ‘Life along the Mediterranean is synonymous with being outdoors. Since time immemorial, our homes have always incorporated an element of nature into their interiors.’ This forward-looking home culture will be recreated at Das Haus as an experiment made up of semicircular sections of space linked to each other via the external sides. Every area will have an open design and be used communally. Only the room hinted at in the centre has been conceived as a separate area, and whose cave-like architecture could be used as meditation space. They added, ‘on the one hand, the rooms are designed to be individual entities but, on the other, they are very open in order to offer a great feeling of flow.’
A unique opportunity for up-and-coming design studios to present innovative ideas for homes of the future, this is the first time that a Spanish design studio has been chosen for the Das Haus project which, in 2020, celebrates its ninth edition. Mut Design’s way of working and its multidisciplinary design philosophy were key when it came to choosing this installation. Interiors from Spain would like to congratulate them! If you would like to read more about this topic, check out our website and our interview with the designers.