Aprdelesp forefronts "overlooked" electrical accessories

Local studio Aprdelesp has showcased a line of electrical projects, including wall plugs and power cords, at Ago Projects gallery in Mexico City to forefront items it believes have historically been overlooked in design schemas.

The exhibition was called Accesorios Especiales (Special Accessories) and showcased the launch of Aprdelesp's line of electrical accessories, designed to focus on an often neglected aspect of architectural planning, during Design Week Mexico.

"We are convinced that an electrical outlet can be equally important to a wall in determining, suggesting, or facilitating activities in the course of appropriation," the studio told Dezeen.

"In this sense, we recognize that electrical accessories are one of the many objects that architects usually ignore or overlook – they are often treated as technical afterthoughts, hidden from view, positioned in standard locations, and represented in drawings by symbols that don't reflect their shape, color, or texture – and as such, we were interested in developing a set of spatial accessories."

Arranged around Ago Project's gallery space in Mexico City's Reforma district, the primary feature was a colourful wall panel set with different functional attributes such as outlets, baskets, mirrors, hooks and plant holders.

The panels are highly modular, with different shapes sizes and configurations of utilities.

According to the studio, while electrical outlets are standard, the placements and format of these essential components do not always all look the same, and they designed the set within that potential for deviation from the norm.

"We believe that they stand out, among other things, because of their ambiguity, unusual proportions, and the fact that they integrate commercial objects that we didn't design ourselves," said the studio.

"However, beyond making the spatial accessories immediately noticeable, we are interested in inviting people to engage with them in a more open-ended manner: we believe that all these explorations allow the spatial accessories to function as unfinished objects."

Beyond the panels of varying colours and dimensions, the studio also designed a set of furniture that prioritises the accessories.

These pieces included a low-lying coffee table with wheels equipped with a candle holder, a tall floor lamp with a base covered in outlets and a height-adjustable table with a built-in reading lamp.

Whereas outlets are often included in furniture as an afterthought, the studio said this furniture was designed with the accessories first, forefronting their functions.

"This is not a superficial difference in how we name things," said Aprdelesp.

"Working on this project, we have realized that designing a power extension where one can sit, for example, rather than a chair with a USB port, for example, truly provokes a different approach in the discussion, which ultimately leads to different outcomes."

Aprdelesp – short for apropación del espacio (appropriation of space) – is a Mexico City-based architecture and research office.

Other collections focusing on architectural accessories include a set of "jewellery-like" light switches from Kelly Hopper and a collection of handles created by renowned designers for New York brand Petra.

The photography is by Rocket Science.

Accesorios Especiales is on show at Ago Projects from 5 October to 31 December. For more exhibitions, talks and fairs in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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