Clap Studio Creates Installation for World Design Organization in Valencia, Spain
Founded by Jordi Iranzo and Àngela Montagud, Clap Studio operates globally but is headquartered in Valencia, Spain. So the firm was excited when the World Design Organization named the port city the World Design Capital for the year 2022. To prepare for that honor, the organization tapped Clap to create an installation that would provide flexible space to host televised informational programs, debates, and celebrations.
The 2,150-square-foot venue is in the America’s Cup Building—poetically dubbed Vele e Vents—a four-level harborside pavilion by David Chipperfield Architect from which offshore yacht races can be viewed. That setting inspired the concept, and name, of the installation, The Sea, which comprises a system of easily assembled modules that, like an ocean, can be formed into “waves” for seating. “It arose from the context,” Iranzo says of the vision.
The modules—simple boxes made from electro-welded wire mesh painted a gentle seafoam—can be clipped together into any configuration. They’re topped with fire-retardant foam cushions made from repurposed materials cast off from construction work and attach to the boxes via polypropylene
straps. “The installation itself can perform and transform,” Montagud adds. “It can adapt to the needs of the moment.” Completing the marine effect are integrated spherical lights that float inside or on top of the modules like glowing jellyfish.