Plastic Box Päätoiminto: Supermarket

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Plastic Box is a minimalist brutalist project that transforms the shopping experience through a bold aesthetic and innovative functionality. Conceived as a concrete envelope with clean lines, it conveys strength and permanence. Its key element is a ceiling made of more than a thousand recycled plastic crates that filter light and integrate lighting, ventilation, and rainwater systems. Inside, steel and concrete reinforce a sober commercial language that redefines materials and their uses.

Dimensions & Packaging

The lighting was conceived in an indirect and highly controlled manner. Light passes through and reflects off the system of 1,200 reused plastic crates in the ceiling, creating diffuse illumination that eliminates the typical glare found in supermarkets. In this way, light does not merely illuminate the space; it builds atmosphere and reinforces its scenographic character, creating a connection between the space and the shadows it generates.

Tags

supermarket, Plastic Box, plastic, brutalism

Production Technology

The project is defined by a reduced and honest material palette: concrete, steel, and reused plastic. Concrete provides brutality and neutrality; steel resolves the furniture with industrial precision; and plastic, usually hidden, becomes the architectural protagonist through the reuse of more than 1,200 crates. The ceiling was the greatest technical challenge, developed without precedents at this scale and requiring extensive prototyping, testing, and on site adjustments to assemble more than 1,200 reused elements with absolute precision.

Design Challenge

The main objective was to transform an everyday, functional space into an architectural experience. The client required a fully operational and efficient supermarket with clear circulation, while also seeking a space with its own identity recognizable and memorable. The program was simple: a sales area, storage, fluid circulation, and a powerful image that breaks with convention.

Research

The space was already operating as a supermarket, but it was in a completely neutral state, lacking architectural character, with standard solutions and a flat spatial reading. It was a generic container with no spatial value, which allowed us to intervene with complete freedom, starting from an almost blank slate.

Inspiration

The project is inspired by the idea of turning a space of consumption into an almost ritual, artistic experience. A brutalist and reduced language is used, where a single gesture defines the entire identity. This concept takes shape in the ceiling, made from over 1200 reused plastic crates, creating a recognizable and hypnotic atmosphere. The space becomes a box within a box, where function and symbolism coexist.

Project Duration

Completed in 2024 in Port d Alcúdia, Mallorca.

Image Credits

Fotógrafo / Leonardo Cóndor