A&B is a dual component design for the interior skin in white Corian of Space 8, an installation for the experience of winetasting in Mas Rodó, Penedès, Barcelona. The component-based system is designed to enhance the properties of the wine in the three phases of tasting: visual, olfactory and gustative.

One single rhomboidal figure contains two triangular pieces, A&B, which can be paired onsite as A&B, A&A or B&B, to dim natural light, allow the filtration of wind or let the landscape take part in the joy of winetasting. The fabrication of each piece is first milled in a CAD-CAM numeric controlled machine, with a very efficient nesting pattern – A&B –; and then thermoformed to calibrate its opening and overlapping with the pairing component according to the amount of light and/or wind that it has to filter.

The whiteness – which is the medium in which the wine is best expressed visually – of the Corian allows the reflection and refraction of light, while the design and pairing system of the dual component dims its intensity, for a first visual evaluation of wine in terms of color, texture or density. Its overlapping system once installed onsite may allow cross ventilation to naturally extract the volatile odors from the glass and emphasize the scents of the wine, in its olfactory phase. Once all these conditions have been accomplished, customers can take the wine up to their mouths to conclude their winetasting with the gustative phase to conclude this broad sensorial experience.

(*) This design has been developed within the context of the BODEGA Research Group, participated by SALA FERUSIC Architects, Appareil and the AA Architectural Association School of Architecture London (via AAVS Barcelona); and fabricated by Sumeplast along with Corian by DuPont Ibérica.