5. Interior Matter
Matyas Barak
Hi. I am Matyáš.
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Originally a product designer, I studied at the RCA to deepen my understanding of the environment as context for my work.
In 2018, I finished my BFA in Product Design from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Czech Republic. Within my one-year internship at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden, I made my first intervention into public space with a playful furniture family, which was produced in cooperation with Nola Industrier AB in 2017. In the same year, I exhibited my Fireplace project as a part of the Home Expo Vallastaden 2017. I gained my first work experience in 2019 in Paraguay, where I worked as an industrial designer at an architectural design studio Javier Corvalán + Laboratorio de Arquitectura.
I like to think about spaces that serve as an escape from ordinary life. In Rainwater Fountain, I want to change the way people perceive rain in urban settings.
I am almost two metres tall, which gives me a natural advantage of looking at things from a different perspective. As a designer, I am keen on details, the importance of which I understand in the broader context of interior or architectural projects. Most often, my ideas come from the physical exploration of the materials themselves, which I then enjoy to marry with the user experience to create appropriate design proposals.
CHARCOAL
COIR
FILTER
LIMESTONE
MINERALIZE
ALUMINIUM
COPPER
DISINFECT
PLASTIC
ACTIVATE
The way the city looks, the way it feels, the way people behave, is different when it’s wet. Water everywhere dripping, pooling, and disappearing without ever being used.
The rainwater fountain is a speculative and poetic space. Designed to be temporary, to be beautiful, to make people think and to test ideas. It is a response to the water scarcity caused by high-density urban living. It is an exploration of how materials can be used to harvest rainwater and how water and materials can be combined to create an arresting space. A place where people can take a moment, pause, and enjoy a refreshing drink.
The rainwater fountain is produced from a series of modular charcoal briquettes held together with a network of coir ropes. Bunched at the top and flared at the base, the briquettes are contained and supported by a ribbon of black anodised aluminium that provides both structure and the entrance to the space. Underfoot is an etched glass floor floating above a series of connected copper lined barrels.
When it rains the water is captured, channeled, filtered and disinfected by the materials so that it is made safe for people to drink. The materials are also used to create an arresting atmosphere and sensorial experience. The finishes are dark to heighten sensations; the sound of drips, the glinting reflections of wet surfaces, the smell of the rain and the feeling of humid air.
At the centre of the space is an elegant drinking fountain that is illuminated from above by an oculus. People are invited to quietly reflect and enjoy a drink of the rainwater that normally passes us by.
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