+arquitectos: Yael Reisner Studio
+año de colaboración: 2014
+fase: proyecto básico + obra
+info: Yael Reisner Studio website 


Imágenes y texto extraídos de www.yaelreisner.com:


Barcelona’s tercentenary commemoration celebrates in mid June 2014 "the universal fight for freedom", and we were asked to refer throughout the design of our project to the word DEMOCRACY. The Protection of Human Rights of All Citizens is one of the four core elements of Democracy and it’s the one that forms the basis of our project.

Emanating from the very location of Placa de la Merce - where on the southern side rests the Civil Registration building, we created an intervention that refers to the freedom of the individual in a democratic society, and thus dedicate the square during the coming summer months to the celebration of human rights through civil weddings. The option of a civil marriage in many countries opened new possibilities for interfaith marriages, non-religious marriages, and same sex marriages. The aspiration is to promote progress in the city’s life and human’s wellbeing - freedom of individual choice along with a live and elevating honey fragrant flowers – along memories of great moments in life; turning a marriage registration to a ceremony and ritual that suits a big event in one’s life. 

The 21 columns - three times seven - along the ceremonial walking platform, are columns with growing living plants in green and white, known as Snow Princess, Snowdrift, Sweet Alison, or in their Latin name Laboularia maritime. The long blossoming of rounded heads in pure white and the strong honey fragrant are all their unique characteristics. The canopy that defines the celebratory space and shades it from the summer sun – is itself in the form and the specific light blue colour of the Human Rights’ new universal logo – established as a symbol to remind the world of these fundamental rights in any civilised society. The suspended inflatable structure is in the tradition of festivals and street parades along with its practical role of projecting a unique shadow that will move daily along the square as the sun moves in the sky.

Thus the two tenets of democratic behaviour – the personal and the societal are brought here together, hopefully helped by the combination of a sympathetic Registrar and a joyous couple – taking the celebration out into the square. Any couple that wishes to use the platform for their celebration during the months of its installation in Placa de la Merce. Please make a contact with the FEM - Fundacio Enrich Miralles - Barcelona.

The 2D human rights universal logo was designed for the purpose of free circulation to protect and promote human rights internationally. It was the winning symbol in a competition held in 2011. On 23 September 2011, the Human Rights Logo was unveiled in New York. The winning design is by Predrag Stakic of Serbia and combines the shape of a hand with that of a bird. It is now available to everyone at no cost as an open source product for the promotion and protection of human rights. 

The canopy designed for the installation in Placa de la Merce is a 3D inflatable object that its form and colour were borrowed from the 2D symbol, and further developed and designed through its three dimensional drawing so as to be turned to an inflatable object. I thought it would be appropriate as a canopy hanging above a popular public square, where many local citizens and tourists will experience its presence positively, be reminded of human rights and think about the importance of their pursuit daily and globally.