Masquespacio creates an evocative world of colours and imperfections for Lynk & Co

What happens when a Spanish design agency transcending the mundanity of retail design to create experiential phenomenons collides with a Chinese-Swedish automobile brand rooted in unconventionality, to create a single space?

The answer lies in Lynk & Co's, Barcelona, the mobility brand’s first club in Spain, designed by the award-winning creative consultancy Masquespacio. In Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona, the club comes together like a world of utopias. While creating these multiple worlds inside the 400 sqm space, the designers dove into artistic disciplines that define Barcelona such as art, design, and music. In addition to its vibrant contemporary art scene, the city is home to some of the most awe-inspiring works of Catalan Modernisme by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, such as the Sagrada Familia Church or Casa Milá. Probing into the past and present of Barcelona, it is evident that the city doesn’t crave minimalism. Therefore, Lynk & Co’s club in Barcelona reflects on the city’s organic inspirations, decorative motifs, and exaggerated storytelling, while infusing the space with a contemporary design.

Placing the new club inside a brutalist building, the Spanish studio intended to respect the interior architecture of the space with its brutalist-style, full of imperfections. The new interventions in the space, thus, follow a narrative that either blends with it or gracefully contrasts it. During spatial planning, new functional spaces were added to the area, each adorning a different style, inspired by a unique theme varying from architecture and art to music and movies.

At the entrance, visitors are welcomed with the glimpse of a gigantic castle-like structure, with a reflecting green colour and a distorted effect, containing fitting rooms. While the furniture design of the space isn’t cohesive, and rather differs in design, style, colour themes, material palette, and geometry, across spaces of the club, it still manages to come together. Voicing the brand's idea of being innovative and fresh, every element of the club’s interior design points to the philosophy of 'nothing is traditional.' Lynk & Co's car placed inside the club is partially tucked inside a 3D-printed blue whale form.

For the interior club design, the designers indulged in establishing an aesthetic of imperfections. An example of this is found in the concrete column intersecting the blue shell structure. Furthermore, the bathroom design has a show of light and sound that is intended to remind one of loved childhood films.

On the spaces above, are exposition zones with sustainable objects selected by Lynk & Co and unexpected areas for co-working. Exploring the ‘unexpected,’ an old safe door in the club leads to a swimming pool area, which doubles down as a co-working space. While manifesting physical embodiments of varied definitions of utopia, the lighting design became an interesting and important factor. Through the different functional spaces, the lighting tones dramatically change from cool tones of blue to warm tones of red and the relaxing subtleness of white.

Embracing the rudimentary aesthetics of the brutalist architecture, a few of the design interventions follow a raw, deteriorated mood board. The display counters of the space appear to be made of a crushed form of steel, with the folds and undulations captured in an organic manner. The wall tiles connect to the floors, at places, and abruptly end, quite organically. 

"The new Lynk & Co in Barcelona is a versatile place, able to adapt to any event, with a colourful and at the same time sophisticated design, full of utopias to be discovered. Lynk & Co has come up with the perfect alternative to spending the morning negotiating at the dealership: clubbing,” shares Masquespacio, on the architecture's adaptive quality.