El Bulli, a restaurant known for the gastronomic work carried out by Ferran Adrià between 1983 and 2011, changed the paradigm of global gastronomic restoration.

Since its closure, Ferran and several of his partners embarked on the creation of ElBulliFoundation, a private foundation focused on research and dissemination of gastronomic culture, with the intention of transforming the former restaurant into elBulli1846, the first major laboratory-museum of cooking, creativity and innovation in the world.

It is a center to keep the legacy of elBulli. An exhibition LAB in which research and experiments are carried out to generate knowledge related to innovation efficiency. Use exhibitions as a work tool.

The starting point is the management and innovation system of elBullirestaurante and the learning acquired from the advice given to other companies and educational, cultural and artistic organizations. This analysis has led to the design of the Sapiens methodology, whose objective is to audit, question and enrich existing models and processes.

elBulli1846 is a museum to reflect on the knowledge, innovation and history of elBulli.

The complex is made up of three buildings and ten facilities integrated into the landscape. A comprehensive museum project of 4,000 square meters in the heart of the Cap de Creus Natural Park, Girona.

The outdoor installations show elBulli's reflections on cooking and innovation.

Tribute is paid to the Bullinians and Sapiens is presented, the methodology that Ferran Adriá's team has developed to connect knowledge, a protocol that they apply in all their projects. The best example of this implementation is Bullipedia.

elBulli1846 is located in Cala Montjoi, within the Cap de Creus Natural Park, a unique geological configuration with structures and outcrops that form a unique complex in the world.

The exterior museographic intervention is integrated with nature. Its design arises from the morphological analysis of unique geological processes found in the area, characterized by the outcropping of sedimentary rock sequences attributed to the Lower Paleozoic.

The reports of the General Directorate of Environment of the Generalitat of Catalonia corresponding to the geozones of Cap de Creus have been analyzed, from which the main keys for the design process emerge.

The Montjoi Geotope is made up of slates, marbles and dark phyllites rich in iron, whose interaction with the sea transforms the original gray tones into ochers and reds resulting from oxidation.

Seeking a symbiosis with the landscape, it was decided to use stainless steel and Corten steel as base materials for the construction of the facilities. The alternation of both connects with the natural play of tones and textures existing in the environment.

The conjunction of stratigraphic, tectonic and morphological aspects gives the area exceptional geological interest. Singular phenomena are identified that are used as a reference to develop the construction concepts of the installations, which in turn end up being formalized by responding to the contents of each exhibition area. A tailored proposal is pursued for each installation within an overall identity that responds to the environment.

The design of the facilities arises from a process of identifying those common points shared by the folds, interferences, outcrops, faults, dikes or geological bands found in the area.

All of them show a series of common visual patterns resulting from the geological period in which they were formed. They are expressed through color, geometry and texture, which although intuitively perceived as intrusions in the predominant ecosystem, in turn transmit harmony in the whole. Seen from a certain distance, in many cases linear structures are perceived, with simple shapes, with a certain rhythm of repetition on some occasions that makes them stand out from the landscape.

The first installation invites us to break with our certainties about what it means to cook. This rupture situation also occurs in “faults”, flat fractures in the ground due to tectonic stresses.

Of special interest are the granodiorite shear zones of Roses, where you can see the sliding of one block with respect to another, altering the continuity of the strata.

In the process of analyzing the environment, some sets of enormous stone blocks have appeared that have been included as part of the morphological typification of the study despite not being geological phenomena. This type of construction marks a milestone in history since it marks the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic, a moment in which man begins to intentionally modify the landscape to his convenience, adding symbolic meanings to certain places.

These megaliths are taken as a reference for this installation due to the existing connection in their contents and intention. A 16-meter-long horizontal volume is proposed that houses watercolors painted by Ferran Adriá inside, explaining how the kitchen began. The drawings are accompanied by reproductions of objects, tools and containers corresponding to the Paleolithic and Neolithic. The size and rotundity of the volume, which also appears floating slightly above the ground, connect with the megalithic structures.

The third installation revolves around the processes of coding information in gastronomy and how a universal language can be created from its identification, synthesis and order.

The installation is made up of two pieces that exemplify this discovery through a repetitive series of steel plates arranged in parallel, which have taken as a reference the geological bands of quartz and pegmatite that can be enjoyed in Cala Serena, where the intense deformation of the shale has given rise to perfectly parallel linear bands that seem sculpted by humans.

This installation represents a turning point in the visitor's journey, who encounters three concentric rings of Corten steel die-cut with texts. This is a three-dimensional synthesis of the diagram used by the elBulli team to explain their creative innovation system.

The symbolic use of concentric circles has been a constant in the world of art since cave paintings, examples of which range from the Pedra de Fenals d`Aro caves, found in 2009, to the iconic Land Art interventions by Richard Long, which could be perceived as geological phenomena given their impact on the landscape.

These circles are also the birth point of a forest of questions that extends throughout the plot, between trees and bushes, linking with each of the facilities.

This installation presents the cataloging system for the 1846 dishes made at elBulli, which in turn are summarized in 19 styles. Reaching the final result of each of these elaborations involved a long, complex and intuitive process, a permanent encounter of opposing forces. This process could be identified with the calcareous-detrital interferences that can be observed in Cala Rostella, where a series of folds can be seen that are the result of the encounter of compressive stresses in different directions that have deformed originally linear and parallel plates. Following the guidelines used in the previous installations, this meeting of forces has been synthesized in perpendicular planes of different magnitude to represent the asymmetry inherent to these processes.

The installation reflects the complex system of connections necessary between the parts of our body when enjoying a gastronomic experience. A series of supports have been created on which Luki Huber has designed a proposal based on these electrical connections.

These podiums continue with the constructive logic of banding and geological faults, applied in previous installations, playing with the serial repetition of steel plates that emerge from the ground that in turn tilt to support the installation.

This installation presents all the people who have participated in elBulli projects throughout its history, the bedrock of contemporary gastronomy.

In Geology, bedrock is the consolidated rock on which soils form. It is not usually visible since it is found at great depth, and provides the soil with most of its mineral components. The same type of rock can give rise to soils with different characteristics, depending on the conditions of the environment in which it evolves.

The migmatite outcrops of Volt Andrau are a unique example of this type of rock in Catalonia. This outcrop serves as a reference to shape the installation, which is presented as a group of steel plates that emerge organically from the ground, and serve as support for a series of glasses printed with all the names of the Bullinians arranged chronologically. , accompanied by a group of 3D printed figures.

Sapiens is a research methodology that arises from the synthesis of the themes presented in the previous installations.

The location of this facility on the plot is strategic, both due to its physical condition and the importance of its content. It is located in a natural topographic choke point in which views of the sea open up and access is provided to the esplanade that precedes the buildings of the complex. Seeking greater integration with the environment, it has been proposed as a continuation of the bush structures present throughout the route.

These are three organic structures that surround the visitor, forming a kind of nest inside which we will discover the keys to the Sapiens methodology. The nest is understood as an incubation space that houses the birth and growth of a thought form that ends up coming out into the world once it has reached maturity.

Its formal result also shares a certain parallelism with another of the most attractive geological formations that can be seen in Cap de Creus. These are the quartzite folds of the Mas de Rabassers de Dalt, formed by alternating bands of quartz and carbon that fold back on themselves, generating bubbles whose interior seems to show a concentration of energy.

Bullipedia is a constantly growing encyclopedia made up of more than 30 specialized books resulting from different research processes around gastronomy.

The installation displays existing posts, and becomes the canvas for future ones. Apart from its exhibition nature, it provides a space for reading, reflection and dialogue, in the Platonic style, designed for both visitors and research groups that come regularly. The objective is to offer an inspiring work environment with views of the sea, in the shade of trees, made up of platforms where you can rest, study or talk, which can even be converted into a stand.

The installation is integrated into the environment taking as reference the rhythm and proportional scale of the linear pegmatite dikes that appear on the coast, igneous formations that look like incisions and contrast with the dominant rocky landscape of dark schists.

The most important milestones in the history of elBulli are shown and how the systematization of innovation was applied through the language of cuisine and the exploration of the limits of the gastronomic experience.

The visit is structured around three spaces; the terrace, the kitchen and the dining room.

Through hundreds of original documents and objects, elBulli's relationship with artists, scientists or designers can be understood, apart from the relationship with Japan. The hours recorded around elBulli in films and documentaries, the tools used and created in its laboratory, the dialogue with science or the role of congresses.

It is the last stop of the visit to elBulli 1846, a multipurpose space in the shape of a rock, which brings together all the projects “with elBulli DNA” since 2011 and which, when the museum is closed, will be a meeting and project development room.

Pics

Javier de Paz | Asier Rúa