Wicanders Corkcomfort, launched by Ecologic in Australia at designEX 2011, was recently used to complete the interior flooring of Barcelona’s most famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia.
Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí but left unfinished after his death, this UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site is one of the most popular monuments in the world and visited by millions of tourists every year.
Now visitors to La Sagrada Família’s crypt will be surprised to learn they are walking on cork flooring. Corkcomfort flooring was specified by Architect Jordi Bonet i Armengol, who took to the innovative range of colours and use of finger blocked and mosaic effects.
The Corkcomfort range is environmentally friendly and produced using cork from sustainable forests, which fits with Gaudí’s philosophy for using natural materials. Mr. Bonet i Armengol says “If Gaudí always used fundamentally natural materials and took inspiration from nature, why not use a natural product such as cork?”
Additionally, the benefits of specifying cork flooring are numerous. It is a natural thermal insulator, facilitating a quiet, stylish, comfortable environment with potential energy savings.
Mr. Bonet i Armengol explains, "Encouraged by the excellent acoustic and thermal properties of cork I decided it was the perfect choice, as it matched the other materials already used from the aesthetic perspective… and there are still some people who aren’t sure exactly what type of flooring it is!”
