D.Lights by Stephanie Chaltiel

Through light, textiles and drones, architect Stephanie Chaltiel in collaboration with Simon has designed an unprecedented installation to broaden the limits of the spaces we inhabit. Textile and light, two raw materials that are ideal for the creation of spaces and atmospheres that combine the attributes of lightness, flexibility and mutability. International architect Stephanie Chaltiel has worked with both elements in the D·lights project that Simon presents in the latest edition of Casa Decor 2021.

She also adds the drone technology that she has already experimented with on various projects as construction assistants. The D·lights textile structure created by Chaltiel, founder of the MuDD Architects studio, creates two vaults made with 3D knitting technology. The fabric, designed by her with various densities and degrees of transparency, incorporates light itself. It consists of a lighting program with smart point-to-point control of LED lights, developed by ProtoPixel, to recreate various light scenes directly on the fabric of fibres.

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Stephanie Chaltiel’s career as an architect has featured research with light and sustainable construction materials prominently, such as textiles with recycled and recyclable yarn, products with a second life and environmental awareness, and drone technologies in construction processes in emergency scenarios. The neutral beige colour chosen for the fabric, with a variable opacity gradient, reveals a magnificent support in interaction with light. A blank canvas, with new textures and effects, for a mutable constructed space that explores new ways of modelling the places we live.

As a multi-purpose space, it seeks to expand the limits of what we today think of as a home, with soft angled walls and innovative finishes for the benefit of the interior design world. This cosy “cocoon” space of fabric and light, supported by a framework of inflatable nerves, acts as a protective and, at the same time, porous skin that connects the individual with the external environment. It’s been designed as an emotional surface: it collects a succession of light, colour and sound scenes, evoking the natural scenery of a forest, raindrops or a sunrise accompanied by birds.

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A new portable architecture, which establishes a dialogue between the interior and the exterior space, capable of recreating and amplifying other scenarios. Stephanie Chaltiel in collaboration with D·lights explores the relationship between new light and sustainable technologies and the desire to bring nature closer to our domestic interiors. With the enjoyment of an immersive experience, it appeals to new architectures capable of provoking new perceptions in those who inhabit them.

The robotic dynamism of the drones flying over the vault, on the other hand, provides new expressiveness. Located in a large covered patio of the Casa Tomás Allende -which houses Casa Decor this year- D·lights illustrates the multifunctionality of textile constructions in outdoor or indoor, intermediate and mixed spaces. And it reveals the potential to transform the rigorous and static geometry of the patio into an organic space through a membrane of changing light. Source and photos Courtesy of Simon.

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