Every Drop Counts. Barcelona's New Media Facade on the Fontsanta Balance Tower - Media Skin Explores Water

COLOGNE, Germany, January 13 - The media facade on Barcelona's water tower, built by the Cologne-based
company >>ag4 media facade GmbH<< and completed at the end of November, links
media architecture to the increasingly urgent issue of water, the source of
life.

The "Fontsanta Balance Tower" is part of the newly constructed pumping
station built by the Spanish water supply company ATLL and conceals a water
reservoir that ensures a constant water pressure balance in Barcelona.

ag4 has created a media skin for the water reservoir. Dynamic visual
media blend with the impressive architecture of the building. The light
choreography, created by ag4 in close collaboration the architects ruisanchez
arquitectes and ATLL, explores the various themes concerning the sustainable
management and use of water reserves while simultaneously emphasizing the
form and function of the building.

Oliver Ebert, architect and project manager explains: "The challenge here
was to translate the architecture's aesthetic, the function of the building
and its sustainable energy concept into a media experience using a
graphically abstract visual language."

At a resolution of 3650 pixels, the facade installation is set to display
sequences of abstract-figurative light patterns and text elements by night.
Minimalist animations evoke the natural water cycle of rain, water flow and
evaporation.

The concrete core of the structure spanning a surface of 768 m2 is
covered in an impressive patchwork of metal and photovoltaic elements,
creating an intelligent form of self-generated energy supply concealed within
an aesthetic element. This skin, equipped with 18,000 LEDs that consume
approximately 0.7 kW-h for the nighttime installation, is supplied with power
entirely generated by the tower's own photovoltaic system and then fed into
the public power grid during the day.

In line with the function of the building, we have created and designed a
mediatecture that is future-oriented and is defined by sustainability and a
long-term perspective. I am therefore especially pleased that, as a logical
consequence, the media facade installed on the "Fontsanta Balance Tower"
provides opportunities for the exploration of water as a valuable resource.

    Ralf Muller, "Executive Director ag4 media facade GmbH"

    Image and video material (for editorial purpose only):
    www.youtube.com/user/ag4mediafacade
    www.medienfassade.com/133.html?&L=1#c1039
    ftp://presse@195.227.117.130
    User: Presse
    Passwordt: Presseag4

    Press Contact:
    ag4 media facade GmbH
    Barbara Kummler
    Am Kolner Brett 8
    D-50825 Koln
    Germany
    fon: +49(0)221-91-27-32-22
    fax: +49(0)221-91-27-32-91
    mailto: kummler@ag4.de

    www.mediafacade.com
    www.medienfassade.com

Press Contact: ag4 media facade GmbH, Barbara Kummler, Am Kolner Brett 8, D-50825 Koln, Germany, fon: +49(0)221-91-27-32-22, fax: +49(0)221-91-27-32-91, mailto: kummler at ag4.de