Designer creates secret studio space under a bridge
It’s a private office in perhaps the most unusual of locations … and not for the faint-hearted.
Fernando Abellanas, a selftaught furniture designer from Spain, found a way to build a tiny pop-up studio space on the underside of a traffic bridge.
The one-time plumber, who now works under the professional name of Lebrel, admitted he wanted a work space that mimicked a childhood experience of hiding in a closet or under a table — “the feeling kept hidden while still being able to hear and see what happens around us,” he tells The Spaces.
“Observing passing cars and trains with no one seeing me gives me great sense of peace.”
At his Valencia bridge studio, Abellanas ensured the shelf, chair, and desk were securely bolted to the bridge’s concrete wall. A hand crank is used to move the metal base from one side of the bridge to the other along a pair of metal rails. He also keeps some cushions around in case he needs to stay in the studio longer.
As Design Boom notes, Abellanas’ micro-dwelling is his expression of shunning traditional ideas “of the idyllic country cabin surrounded by nature, and instead embraces its urban setting through a raw and industrial esthetic.”
But try to find exactly where in Valencia the office is located. The studio’s exact spot Abellanas is keeping secret, and it is part of a collection of spaces he is creating.
“(It will remain) until someone finds it and decides to steal the materials, or the authorities remove it,” he says.