Cultura Concrete Wall Tile by Gabriel Costa is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award in Building Materials and Construction Components Design Competition Category.
IronBuilding Components· 2024
Cultura Concrete Wall Tile
Client: Castaa
A' Design Award Winner in Building Components Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #152776The Design
About Cultura Concrete Wall Tile
The design is inspired by the distinctive shapes and artistic heritage of the ancient pre-Columbian Jama Coaque tribe, dating back to 500 B.C., located in Ecuador. It consists of four tiles and the challenge was to develop an effective approach for seamlessly aligning the tiling lines in every direction. These tile variations allow for the creation of diverse configurations without repetition, echoing the roller stamp design. Cultura revives and highlights the memory and importance of historical local design.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award
Cultura Concrete Wall Tile is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Cultura Concrete Wall Tile is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Cultura Concrete Wall Tile is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The task presented by the design was to discover an effective approach for aligning the tiling lines seamlessly in every direction. The Cultura design comprised two distinct pieces: tiles A and B, each featuring a unique design. To address this challenge, the decision was made to make tile B a mirror image of tile A. Subsequently, by rotating both tiles 180 degrees, two additional tiles, labeled C and D, were produced. These variations in tiles enabled the production of a diverse array of configurations without repetition, inspired by the roller stamp patterns of the Jama Coaque culture.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width: 250 mm, Depht: 10 mm, Height: 600 mm.
Material: SSC/GRC.
Texture: Sleek
Finish: Semigloss - Tags
- wall tile, wall element, 3D, concrete, home and living, pattern design, geometric, pattern
- Production Technology
- The manufacturing technique utilized involved the use of wet-cast high-performance concrete in thermoformed plastic molds crafted over an engineered aluminum routed matrix to ensure stable dimensions and a sleek semi-gloss texture finish.
After demolding, no modifications were made using any additional sources or tools for finishing beyond those originally utilized during the production process. - Design Challenge
- The creative challenge lay in crafting an original piece to complement the other three, blending them together seamlessly to form a cohesive image of a repetitive bookmatched pattern within a natural design. The concept emerged: diagonal stripes intersected by inlays, mimicking a primitive depiction of animals. These inlays, strategically placed, would provide texture, allowing light and shadow to interact and imbue the entire wall with depth and meaning.
- Research
- The objective was to design a tile with aims of highlighting and bringing back the values of historical Jama Coaque tribe, around 500 B.C, known for intricate designs and innovative techniques. They pioneered the use of a roller stamp for continuous patterns, showcasing their innovation. Instead of using the same patterns, the focus was on enhancing compositions with fundamental design principles and enriching patterns with complexity.
- Inspiration
- Cultura is inspired by the distinctive shapes and artistic heritage of the ancient pre-Columbian Jama Coaque culture located in Ecuador. Renowned for their use of roller stamps to adorn pottery, textiles, and skin with motifs, they established a unique identity through this artistic tradition.
- Project Duration
- The development of the tile design was made approximately 1 year before production and was manufactured by CASTAA from October 2022 to December 2022 in Duran, Ecuador.
- Operation Flow
- The Tiling Method:
a. Determine the wall dimensions.
b. Mark the midpoint along the width.
c. Calculate the tiles quantity required to fill the upper left row
d. Choose your code type: single, bi, tri and quad code.
e. Place the chosen code in the upper left row and fills to the end.
f. Bookmatched by placing the opposite tile on the right half row.
g. Fill the entire second row bellow by placing once again, the bookmatched tiles from the first row with their corresponding opposite tiles.
h. Copy the block area of 2 complete rows downward by replicating it until the entire wall is fully covered. - Patents
- Copyrights C-001-2019-GC (Cultura) belong to Gabriel Costa Year 2019.
- Team Members
- Designer: Gabriel Costa
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Photographer Andres Carrion, Cultura, 2023
Image #2 : Photographer Andres Carrion, Cultura, 2023
Image #3 : Photographer Andres Carrion, Cultura, 2023
Image #4 : Photographer Gabriel Costa, Cultura, 2023
Image #5 : Photographer Andres Carrion, Cultura, 2023
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