Beam Club Mosaic Wall www.beamclub.com
I was asked to design a seven-meter long mosaic wall for the newly constructed Beam club in Thailand. Comprising a lounge and main dance floor, Beam is situated in Bangkok’s Thonglor district and is part of 72 Courtyard, a complex of restaurants and cafes designed by architect Amanda Levete. The interior design concept was by William Russell of Pentagram.
The wall lies behind the bar in the lounge, a quieter area of the club, so the owner wanted the illustration to have a dreamlike feel about it, inviting guests to linger in the space. My immediate reference were vintage illustrations from the 1960s, where families gather in front of futuristic buildings, a representation of every day life scenarios but in an imposing environment. These were the raw materials with which to create a window into a fictional landscape.
Instead of a conventional rendering, we decided to solve this challenge by creating a huge mosaic wall (7 m L x 3 m H), in tune with the materials used throughout. The artwork – which I had to “translate” into the language of mosaics – is actually made up of hundreds of 1 x 1 cm pixels: the black or white tiles on the wall. The technique allowed for matt and glossy finishes, which used in combination allowed me to introduce highlights (eg the bouncing black balls). 2016
Photos by Matias Sauter
