The Keenfolks Ad Agency in Barcelona by Guillermo Santomà.

Young Spanish designer Guillermo Santomà attracted worldwide attention after his total transformation of Casa Horta – yes, that project that made the design world lose their schnitzel, including yours truly. Santomà places himself somewhere in-between architecture and design and creates complete environments for his work to act in. With an artistic motto ‘to create is to destroy’, Santomà works to deconstruct the fixed images of design. Never pre-sketching his ideas, Santomà’s work is a constant process of deformation and creation.

One of his latest projects is the ingenious new headquarters for The Keenfolks, an ad agency based in Barcelona. As most ad agency fitouts go, these guys had a limited budget to play with, but this didn’t stop Santomà from creating a drool-worthy result that looks like something that’s stepped straight out of a sci-fi movie. Is it a gallery? An art installation? And is that thing in the middle a glorified tent designed for glamping? No, dude. It’s totally a meeting room – like, duh. But let’s start from the beginning.

Appearing more like an urban jungle than an office, Santomà plays with the notions of advertising by using nothing other than the following five materials – blue timber, galvanised steel, mirror, MDF and palms. He approached the fitout with a strategy of putting furniture first, where everything inserted is a lose element that can evolve and change over time.

The search for perfect furniture pieces began in his own studio, where a timber table he previously designed for an exhibition was extended in length and painted blue. The two long blue tables became the defining workstations and visual anchors within the space. The furniture collection was completed by way of additional custom tables, a desk in painted white concrete, and a multi-tiered work surface made from galvanised steel.

Conceptualised to feel as an art gallery, the entire space features white walls, floor and ceiling, creating a perfect backdrop for Santomà’s furniture. And then… Ta-dah! The allusive 2m-tall centrally-located semi hemisphere packs a punch like a true champion. Referred to by the designer as a ‘cupola’, the meeting room is clad in 3mm sheets of MDF, transparent panels, mirror and palm fronds, all of which can be detached and repositioned for ultimate flexibility.

For the record – this is what love of extreme variety looks like. Ok – glad we’re on the same page.