Luma Pavilion

A temporary pavilion designed for an international lighting festival on the Passeig de Gràcia. The structure — raw concrete board-form panels, structural glass, and a single dramatic light aperture — hosted exhibitions and evening performances over twelve days.

Client context

The festival commission required a structure that could be assembled and dismantled within ten days, accommodating up to 300 visitors per evening. The brief called for architecture that responded to the theme of the edition — the relationship between constructed and natural light.

The challenge

A temporary structure on one of Europe's most architecturally sensitive streets demanded materials and a silhouette that respected the context without deferring to it. The dismantling requirement ruled out adhesive connections and most conventional structural systems.

The concept

The pavilion is organized around a single 2.4-metre circular aperture in the roof, positioned to track the arc of the sun and project a shifting ellipse of light across the board-form concrete floor throughout the day. After dark, the aperture frames the sky, and the exhibitions are illuminated from below.

Materials

Board-Form Concrete — Precast panels cast against sawn pine board for texture, disassembled and recycled after the festival.
Structural Glass — Laminated glass roof panels surrounding the central aperture.
Cor-Ten Steel — Weathering steel connector plates and threshold details.
Compacted Gravel — Ground surface treatment to manage drainage and frame the perimeter.

“During the day it was about the sun. At night it became something else entirely. We sat inside it for an hour after closing and none of us wanted to leave.”

— Festival Director, Barcelona 2024 (Demonstration content)