Brick by Brick
Being an established lift company, we’re used to seeing a variety of passenger lifts – in all designs – but lately we’ve seen something extraordinary…a brick lift!
Carles Enrich is a Spanish architect and has recently built a 20 metre high passenger lift next to a Catalonian cliffside to enable a connected between the old and new parts of the town.
The modernised, more urban part of the town is divided from the old town by the Llobregat River. Prior to the lift being built, the old town was only accessible via an old staircase that was both steep and uneven; making it a no-go area for the elderly, families with young children and the disabled. This had created a social fracture within the community and a depopulation of the historic, centre of the town, due to inaccessibility.
However, the passenger lift isn’t made entirely of brick; it merely features walls of perforated brickwork throughout the top 16 metres whilst the base is encased by glazed walls.
Still, it’s not a design that we’re used to seeing in passenger lifts but we have to say – we like it! The lattice effect is beautiful and it fits in well with its surrounding; eye-catching, but doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
It is hoped that the new passenger lift will increase footfall between the historic castle and the public square.
“The choice of this enclosure material responds, on the one hand, to its role as a solar filter, offering porosity, light entrance and ventilation to the elevator case,” said Enrich.
“On the other hand, it dematerialises the case by letting the light go across it, provoking an appearance of lightness that contrasts with the opacity that it is shown in a farther point of view.”
We love it here at Sheridan Lifts and we think there should be more beautiful, outdoor passenger lifts around!