This Bold Textile Installation Explores Softness as Cultural Protection.

When UNESCO and Spain’s Ministry of Culture hosted Mondicult 2025 conference in Barcelona this September, they commissioned a spatial design that reimagined how we protect cultural heritage. The third World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development took over the International Convention Centre of Barcelona (CCIB), where designers Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco and Paula Chalkho from Murray transformed dull corporate spaces into something more compelling.

The design concept draws inspiration from a powerful historical precedent: the use of soft materials to protect architecture during times of conflict. Think mattresses draped over monuments in Kyiv, sandbags around St Paul’s Cathedral during WWII, or seaweed mattresses shielding Giotto’s frescoes in Padua. These improvised acts of care—often led by civilians rather than institutions—form the conceptual backbone of the installation.

Across 3,000 square metres, large mattress surfaces define circulation through the hall, while mattress banners welcome visitors at each entrance. The pattern echoes the event’s graphic identity, with typography that dissolves into folds and ripples across the textile topography. It’s a softer counterpoint to the rigid institutional design typically found in convention centres.

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The technical execution is impressive. Inside, mattresses span up to 14 metres, while exterior installations hang from heights reaching nine metres, exposed to coastal winds. Since nothing could be anchored to the building’s structure, the team developed a non-invasive foundation system using heavy-load wheels and latex water bladders filled with phreatic water. Some of these bladders double as flexible seating—adapting to the body’s contours and pressure.

Puncturing the mattress surfaces are small planted ecosystems featuring mastic, esparto, and tamarisk shrubs alongside wild olive and date palms. These Mediterranean species reference heritage sites from Empúries to Egypt’s Abu Mena, where vegetation actively protects against erosion, rising seas, and climate-driven disasters. It’s a reminder that, in addition to preservation, conservation is also about cohabitation between human and non-human resilience.

In a thoughtful gesture towards sustainability, all furniture and equipment have been designed for reuse, destined to support small-scale cultural initiatives across Spain. Even the phreatic water will be recovered for use within Barcelona.

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[Images courtesy of Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco. Photography by José Hevia.]