French architect Philippe Starck recently designed a red cube to accommodate the LA Almazara olive mill museum and restaurant in Andalusia. It has been adorned with symbols connecting to the region’s heritage. The building is surrounded by groves on a 25-hectare estate near Rona and was created for oil producer LA Organic as an initiative to boost oleo tourism – tourism based on olive oil production. The building is decorated with huge symbols that celebrate the “magic and poetry” of the area. It includes a bull’s horn in Corten steel and a carved eye symbolizing the area’s connection with the surrealist movement.
Designer: Philippe Starck
“LA Almazara itself is surrounded by acres of olive groves, bathed in powerful and warm lights of Andalusia. This gives a sense of the radicality I had to come up with for the project. Everything had to be out of the ordinary, out-of-scale, a little strange, and surrealist. The place is full of fertile surprises that reflect Andalusian symbols,” said Starck. “On the outside, it is a huge monolithic red block, as if fallen from the sky,” added Starck. “An enormous eye at the facade illustrates the vigilance of the great Andalusian surrealist artists, the smoke that emanates from it is surrealist and reflects mystery.”
The interior of the building is intended to be an “inhabitable work of art”. It includes a restaurant area which is placed under a suspended metal pipe and funnel that reference the production of oil, and a wing-like form which symbolizes the Andalusian scientist that was supposed to be the first human to fly.
The space includes a small seating area placed around a fireplace. The fireplace is situated below an oversized bullfighting sword that leans against the wall. This leads to a terrace that cantilevers from the building and seems to be supported by huge metal chains. It offers views of the surrounding landscape, creating an intriguing contrast against the building’s dark interior. The building contains other two floors as well which hold a museum space and facilities of the production of extra virgin olive oil. It is also surrounded by walking trails on the outside, as well as sculptures by Starck and some other visitor facilities.
“As soon as you enter, you are struck by the contrast in lights. In the building, it is dark and cool, to respect and enhance the delicate process of olive oil production,” said Starck. “Yet the inside shadows hold strong symbols as well, such as monumental half-olive embedded in the rusty steel wall, a metal pipe penetrating the building without ever coming out,” he concluded.
