The Cortile della Farmacia, Milan University, as part of the Interni Material Immaterial exhibition, and the Marazzi showroom on Via Borgogna, are displaying Marazzi porcelain stoneware tiles produced for the Augmented Surface project using an innovative surface treatment.
An apparently simple concept implemented on a large scale highlights the courtyard’s beautiful Renaissance proportions and adds an imaginary dimension to space.
Augmented Surface, designed by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, consists of six metre high mirror panels and carefully positioned slabs, obliquely lit from below. This theatre-style installation showcases Marazzi porcelain tiles, with the apparent transformation of the courtyard delivering a breathtaking double-vision. The optical illusion creates a perfectly symmetrical architectural interior, decorated with the visual and chromatic richness of the porcelain tiles which have been applied to the wall of the cloisters and on the ground.
The 1,500 by 750mm tiles were laser printed, slab by slab, to produce the final image using a mosaic-like process. As well as the research needed to obtain the required surface effects, the challenge for the architects and Marazzi was to produce hundreds of different slabs, each of them printed from its own file.
Augmented Surface celebrates the tactile beauty and technical performance of porcelain stoneware. The tiles are easy to handle and yet creative in their surface finish; a characteristic that cannot be replicated in any other material.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, May 2017.
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