FLAMA

In 2024, Antonio Curti invited me to complete a journey that had begun with OCEANVS. Four elements had already been materialized at Farol Santander — Water, Air, Earth, Human. Fire was missing. I conceived FLAMA as the conclusion of this pentology: three environments where the visitor contemplates, creates, and is revealed by flame.

I designed the 22nd-floor space as a progressive crossing. In the first room, a sculptural volumetric LED bonfire burns at the center — permanent, hypnotic, impossible to extinguish. On the surrounding walls, seven acts unfold in 360° projection: from solar turbulence to the ember that persists, a 15-minute cycle that returns to the beginning without ceasing. It’s fire to be contemplated collectively, as it has always been since the first bonfire.

The second room inverts the relationship. I created a system where the body becomes an instrument — sensors capture movement and position, broad gestures generate vibrant flames, gentle movements produce delicate blue flames. But the environment has its own life: if everyone creates intense fire, the space saturates, the flames lose clarity, the sound thickens. Care is needed. The collective memory of the day accumulates — the first person in the morning finds a clean space, the last one at night finds a space dense with history.

In the third room, the Crystal Chamber, the experience becomes individual. Angular mirrors create infinite visual depth — the space seems to lose edges. At the center, a large translucent crystal. When the visitor touches it, the entire environment is taken by fire. Gentle touch: deep blues, slow rhythm. Intense pressure: vibrant red and orange, great expansion. Each touch leaves a permanent mark — the crystal remembers who passed through. The chamber on the first day is different from the chamber on the last.

FLAMA is the work of many hands. Antonio Curti signs the curation and conceived the Elements series as an integrated cosmology. The AYA Studio team materializes the project — Ana Clara on visual design, Minhoso on 3D renders, all the technical infrastructure that enables 90 days of continuous operation at Farol Santander. Fire is the most democratic of elements. Every culture has a relationship with flame. My job was to translate this universal potency into spatial experience — to create three ways of being before fire that didn’t exist before.