Interior Design: Nihil Estudio
Project: González Fotografía y Astronomía
Location: Calle Castellón 17, València, Spain
Year: 2017
Area: 135m2
Photography: Nihil Estudio
It turns surprising to see how, that witch speaks of life and evolution, seems to be practically abandoned. “ González Fotografía y Astronomía ”, was and continues being one of the most prestigious centers of photography and astronomy nationwide of Spain.
Located in the city of Valencia, our high expectations to confront this project, counteract with a feeling that is divided between surprise, admiration and bewilderment, seeing for the first time a place of such prestige where the lack of space for storage, dominates the disorder between lenses and high precision telescopes.
Founded in 1948, this family business that opened its first store in Valencia, is currently runned by a third generation that has managed to renew itself, becoming much more than a photography shop. González Fotografía y Astronomía has incorporated into its activity optical products such as terrestrial astronomical telescopes, microscopes, binoculars… Counting on one of the best exhibitions in Spain in this field.
The tradition of a company with great trajectory and, at the same time, the technicality of the mechanisms of these instruments, which live in constant evolution and seem to have a certain symbiosis with the future, gave us to understand that in this project we would need reminiscences to the traditional and at the same time, a space that gave a way to the imagination. A challenge, more than a project, that leaves for Nihil Estudio of the lack of interior design references in this matter.
The plan reminds us of our own vision through a camera, as if what was captured was a local rather than a landscape. The routes inside González Fotografía y Astronomía are simple, light, nothing keep off circulation inside the store. The entrance of natural light is enhanced by the use of white, which now floods the interior of the premises. A whole wall is used to generate a double white skin that hides the storage and it’s also able to create exhibition spaces.
Promoting the sensation of being inside the eyepiece of a telescope, Nihil Estudio opened and emptied the space, with the blue of the brand itself, the studio darkened the ceilings and as if it were the cosmos, an exhibition space was created for the telescopes that has lightings constellations for illuminate and generate a second, and more fun, life into space. This particular area has a curtain that runs along the side wall of González Fotografía y Astronomía and inside of which a photographic studio area is hidden.
This polyvalent space, and certainly theatrical, stands out with a list of serial plans that divide the interior from floor to ceiling. A “game” in which Nihil Estudio distributes and accommodates the different uses needed, separating and connecting them at the same time.
Honoring to the first generation of González Fotografía y Astronomía, that entered the world of photography, from Nihil Estudio it was decided to recover two pre-existing corner pieces of furniture to using them nowadays as support storage for this same purchase area. A timeless, resounding and characterful element that brings warmth and at the same transmits the values of seriousness and professionalism that the company has managed to consolidate all over the years.
The intervention of Nihil Estudio aims to highlight the union of different uses in the same space. Enhancing the common elements that relate them and respecting as much as possible what differentiates them. Generating a polyvalent space that allows the user to move freely, slightly changing the activity between one side and other. An intervention that promotes curiosity and knowledge versus the ignorance that the universe supposes by itself.
