CELLA Ephemeral Architecture by Os Espacialistas – A Sensory Playground of Geometry, Cork, and Spatial Imagination

CELLA is an ephemeral architectural installation by Os Espacialistas in Lisbon, Portugal, created in 2024 as a poetic exploration of geometry, materiality, and human interaction. Designed as an immersive environment built from cork and modular brick-like elements, the project invites visitors to engage physically and imaginatively with the space. CELLA blurs the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and performance, transforming a simple geometric form—the cube—into a catalyst for play, exploration, and sensory discovery.

A Spatial Body Made of Geometry and Cork

Os Espacialistas conceptualize geometry as a form of affection between human beings and nature. In CELLA, this idea becomes tangible through an installation that behaves like a living organism. The project merges three fundamental meanings of “cella”: a body, a space, and a material.

The structure becomes a tactile landscape where walls, surfaces, and ground condition the visitor’s movement. Made primarily from cork—an organic, sustainable, and culturally rooted material in Portugal—the installation forms an architectural anatomy. With its warm texture and soft acoustic qualities, cork reinforces the project’s emphasis on sensory comfort and emotional connection.

A Landscape of Cubes: Movement, Memory, and Play

At the heart of CELLA lies a swarm of cubes scattered across the space like seeds awaiting activation. These cubes are intentionally movable, stackable, and rearrangeable, enabling visitors to build, deconstruct, and reconfigure their environment. Os Espacialistas describe the cube as “born from the foot,” suggesting that imagination unfolds through movement.

The cube becomes the smallest unit of creative expression—an element that can divide, mix, associate, choose, build, err, and forget. These actions transform CELLA into a continuous field of experimentation, where space evolves through the interplay between time, body, and environment.

An Immersive Playground for Creative Interaction

CELLA functions as both a playground and a meditative space. Its ephemeral nature encourages visitors to embrace impermanence, spontaneity, and artistic freedom. As people walk, touch, rebuild, and move through the installation, their bodies become part of the architectural narrative.

The designers describe the experience as one where “the inside is on the outside.” This inversion expresses how personal imagination and collective participation shape the space. The installation becomes an active organism—sculpting those who move through it just as they simultaneously reshape it.

A Space for Wonder, Joy, and Poetic Discovery

Ultimately, CELLA is a celebration of curiosity and creative play. It prompts visitors to release imagery, smile, and rediscover the joy of simple gestures. Through its shifting geometries and tactile materials, the project becomes a living laboratory of imagination, where architecture is not a static object but a dynamic, relational practice.