Whirlpool – a swirling body of water produced by the meeting of opposing currents.

Design objectives :

|| elegance

|| simplicity of the form

|| resemblance of the Gaudi’s Panton tile formal language

The “topographical” character of the tile allows for the visual and formal continuity within an assembly of an individual piece and facilitates channeling of the water through the surface of a single unit onto the neighboring units.

With the water flow being one of the dominant aspects of our design several different fluid forms have been tested with the help of a “rheotomic curves” grasshopper script, which in turn lead to the most efficient shape that closely resembles the natural phenomenon of a whirlpool.

Several convergence points have been set to incorporate the assignment constraints related to the tile edge condition, which in turn directed us towards the gradual simplification of the design and the reduction of the curve count, which increased the intensity of the water flow through the surface of the tile. The use of RhinoCam and the combination of several Milling technics allowed for the refined radial engraving finish as well as high precision of the concrete casting process.