Every Drop Counts IED Barcelona – Estudiante: Chloe Bou Chabake

Every Drop Counts

IED Barcelona – Student: Chloe Bou Chabake

Academic year

2023/2024

An artists’ residence inspired by the concept of water, its transparency and fluidity, with light as the main protagonist.

The ‘Every Drop Counts’ project proposes a new use and unique design for the former Fabra i Coats factory, located in the Sant Andreu district of Barcelona. The student has designed an artists’ residence open to the public with two clearly differentiated spaces: the private area, which is protected from external gazes with cement walls, and the public area, with dividers made of glass bricks (a sustainable and recyclable material that is non-toxic, durable and soundproof).

Inspired by the concept of water, its transparency and fluidity, and with the aim of raising awareness about the shortage of this element within the city, the design stands out due to the extreme presence of these grids of glass pavers in almost all the public rooms of the building. But what gives the project its most surprising attribute is the light — the true protagonist — flowing freely between them and creating a whimsical effect in the inside space. The student has enlarged all the openings in the space to the extreme, creating a play of light for the eyes, the brain and the heart: the landscape changes depending on the time of day and the movement of those who wander through the building, thus creating a direct connection between the person and the beauty of the residence itself.

‘Every Drop Counts’ has two exhibition rooms. In the first, a tropical rainforest is recreated in which an installation to collect water is placed among the branches of the trees. The second, called “The Yellow Room”, is completely surrounded by yellow glass brick walls and monochromatic yellow lights. It includes round water ponds of a 20 cm depth into which water falls from the false ceiling above. This false ceiling, which is the only false ceiling in the entire residence, has been placed specifically to cover the water tanks inside the roof that recycle the grey water used within the space, so it can be used for the installation.

The project includes a workshop for artists with large work tables comprising storage space underneath.