Making new experiences possible
for people

Multidisciplinary Architectural Practice
Founded in Barcelona in 1990
Fundació Palo Alto
We at EQUIP Xavier Claramunt are a Multidisciplinary Architectural Practice which offers three main product lines: Architecture and Interior Design, Industrial Design and Jewellery. We have just recently added a new category to these areas: Responses.

The practice was founded in Barcelona under the name of ADD+ in 1990. Since 2001 it has been based in Fundació Palo Alto, the architecture, image and design company complex in Barcelona. Since 2006 we have operated under the name EQUIP.

Permanent Reinvention
Closer to People
Approach of Proposal
Our products are based on three fundamental premises:
The first premise is permanent reinvention in our approach to understanding concepts. We always make an unreserved re-evaluation of everything from the developed product through to our attitude towards work and process management.

The second premise is our desire to be closer to people. We propose products which will inspire cooperation between people and will be of use to them.

The third premise is to always follow a proposal approach. We redefine concepts using key words which explain new products to us. We redefine approaches to respond to situations as they arise.

Programme analysis
Location, processes, materials
LAB: training
We work by freeing ourselves of any pre-existing formal conventions, undertaking a constant re-evaluation of the way in which our teams and clients understand their surroundings. Each design proposal has its origins in an idea arising from the program. It is never a preconception or a preformed notion. Establishing a work process defines the end identity.

At EQUIP we work on three product lines concurrently. Creating Architecture and Interior Design provides an essential understanding of space. Industrial Design enables us to maintain constant contact with those working in industry while checking project viability and developing innovative techniques at the same time. Jewellery gives a closer understanding of materials so we are able to handle them correctly and use them in an appropriate way.

In order to be prepared for any eventuality, we at EQUIP use LAB. This is a system which consists in working on a specific approach before an actual client appears in order to enhance responses given to our clients’ questions on previous occasions, or to prepare ourselves for future questions not yet formulated.  LAB is a training session, a permanent pre-season warm-up which runs in parallel to everyday work.

Working without preconceptions
The client’s needs
The future client
The main characteristic which distinguishes us from other design groups is our working without preconceptions or preformed notions and ideas. We embark on each process together with the client, analysing information provided so as to attain competent understanding of needs and thus be able to generate proposals according to requirements.

Thanks to such an approach to design we remain close to our client’s main needs, thus avoiding external mismanagement of any kind.

Providing a response to questions formulated by the client and being prepared for those which will be formulated in the future: This activity takes place within the framework of LAB, where work is carried out on dealing with hypothetical future requests as well as establishing models for clients we are yet to meet.

Intimacy
Optimum materials
Solutions
At EQUIP we develop proposals which range from the intimacy and precious materials of jewellery designs to the high degree of viability required by industrial design, from the complexity of management and design in architecture, projects to what we call projects without scale, namely giving our responses to any question asked by our clients.

ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
JEWELLERY
RESPONSES

Project group
Definition of approach
Communicating with the client
The first step is to establish a group leader responsible for decisions regarding the project and for talking to the client. The leader will immediately start work with the client to define the needs and the program and reach a consensus on all the approaches to be adopted.

APPROACH
1. Define the needs for the program
2. Define the proposals with the client
3. Make models of the proposals. Prototypes
4. Establish a time schedule for works
5. Definitive proposal

Different areas of expertise
External consultants
Industrial partners
We at EQUIP are a group of professionals who come from different areas of expertise which are organised into departments and project groups. All proposals are analysed in conjunction with external partners who have come together to form a network of consultants and industrial partners.

EQUIP
Equip International
Department of Architecture and Interior Design
Department of Industrial Design
Department of Graphic Design
Department of Models
Department for Media Coverage
Action group

ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN
Diversification of clients
Diverse programs
Varied scales
Over the last few years we have undertaken different types of projects: hotels, interiors, temporary installations, shops and housing.

Amongst the most noteworthy of our recent projects are the new car dealership showroom for BMW in Sabadell (Finalist for FAD design awards), Hospes Hotels’ Palacio de los Patos in Granada and Chic&Basic Born in Barcelona.

Currently under construction is the extension to the Hotel Hospes Maricel in Palma de Mallorca while the hotel Hospes Jerez and several housing complexes in the Ebro Delta region are at the implementation stage.

HOTEL GROUPS
CHIC & BASIC
HOSPES HOTELES
HOU TEH CHIEN

CORPORATIONS
BMW Group (automobiles)
DAMM Group (food and drink)
BATH TIME. Cosmic Group (beauty)

PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
INCASOL (Catalan Regional Government)
IBAVI (Balearic Islands Government)
GRUP ORERO (buildings and civil works)
LAYETANA (buildings and civil works)
CYCONS (buildings and civil works)
ESPAIS (buildings and civil works)

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Contact with industrial partners
Feasability
R+D
Industrial Design enables us to be in constant contact with those working in industry and thus able to check viability for any new proposals and carry out R+D.

Amongst the most recent products is the Frankie silverware set for the FACES collection from Ferran Adrià, with whom we continue to collaborate in search of new exceptional designs.

COMPANIES
COSMIC (bathroom fittings and accessories)
PINTINOX (kitchenware)
DESIGN MIX COLLECTIONS (kitchenware)
BRA (kitchenware)
ALTIMIRAS (furniture)
VIBIA (lighting)

JEWELLERY
Innovation
Participation
Adaptation
Our proposals seek to design adornments in such a way that the user can make changes to the jewellery. The potential of the latest collections lies in their innovative make-up and in involving the user in fashioning the jewellery. Much more than objects, they are tools for generating objects. In this way not only can the user make jewellery their own, but the same object can also be repeatedly adapted to the demands of the market.

CLIENTS
DUCHCLARAMUNT (jeweller’s)
TIFFANY & CO. (jeweller’s)
CUNILL (silversmith)

RESPONSES
Proposal approach+LAB
Client’s questions
Projects without scale
The result of a proposal approach and of working within a LAB framework has lead to the emergence of what we at EQUIP call Projects without Scale. It is a question of providing responses to questions which our clients come up with when they are trying to face new challenges. Our objective is to propose new, plausible approaches.

CLIENTS
GRUP ORERO (buildings and civil works)
CHENQUI WANG (restaurateur)
HOTUSA (hotel management)