Cannelle Cake Shop
Raja Cortas
London 1988
The
design orders an entire façade around the dimensions of a single cake,
ensuring that the cake is located rather than lost in space: an expanse
of acid-etched glass framing a clear glass cube. A simple seam marks
the junction between the stone slabs of the pavement and the sections
of glass. At a distance the composition reads as a square within a
square. Closer inspection reveals that the smaller square is set within
a vertical panel of glass whose effect is to trace the dimensions of
the square across the full-height of the façade. During the day
sunlight filters into the interior, while at night, lit from within,
the façade becomes a spectral light-box.
