Page 121 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

ELEMENTS EUROPA FRONT SCENE AND BEHIND THE SCENE 117

INTEGRATING EQUIPMENT

Many pieces of equipment of various shapes and sizes have
been integrated into the ceiling. The shape and position of the
openings to be made into the cassettes had to be rationalised
as much as possible to take technical feasibility into account
and maximise standardisation (one single opening per cassette,
always in a corner and some standard distance from the edge).

This is a more important technical and aesthetical choice
than it seems (cf. “The 15 x 15 cm square”, p. 128) because it
aims at “ordering the unpredictable”, by keeping away from
two excesses:
– for instance, as initially planned, an approach giving priority to
architectural regularity would lead to the ceiling elliptical layout
plan for light to follow table lines perfectly, which is ambitiously
elegant but costly, so all other elements (speakers, emergency
lighting, fire detectors, sprinkler nozzles, structure checks) must
be aligned within a particularly constraining geometric context,
the slightest gap with the latter appearing as a default. Usage
flexibility would also be very poor as any modification to the
table outlines requires the ceiling outlines to be reworked;
– nevertheless, an approach giving rein to technique would lead
to equipment arrangement lacking in regularity, as the ellipse
constraint cannot be managed “as well as possible”, i.e. very
badly if equipment installation logic mainly consists of cable
length!

Yet, the chosen solution is based on the second approach by
performing a standard orthogonal layout plan with a square
basis, perfectly adapted to a regular distribution of elements
related to space, such as sprinkler nozzles. Consequently,
lighting can only follow the elliptical table outlines
approximately, it being significantly refined due to positioning
openings in the corners of square slabs (indeed, each item of
equipment can occupy four different positions on a same slab
simply by pivoting it).

But the particularly significant ceiling polychromatic
composition makes all such “irregularities” less important as
its “figural induction” is seen with regard to the entire hall and
superimposes itself on equipment, which is perceived as a series
of small event ensembles distributed according to each one’s
own geometry and without any visual competition.