'The Magic House' and 'Play of Volumes', the new workshops at the Young Space of the Pompidou Center Málaga

The Centre Pompidou Málaga has unveiled this Friday the new installations that will occupy the Youth Space until February 2027, in collaboration with the »la Caixa» Foundation. This time, the proposal revolves around two complementary projects that invite children to explore space, architecture, and play through an immersive and sensory experience.

The first installation, titled 'The Magic House,' offers a free tour through a wooden architecture that turns everyday home uses into a discovery space for children. On the other hand, 'Volume Play' proposes, based on the principles of Japanese architect Tadao Ando, a practical approach to the concepts of void, fullness, light, and scale through construction and experimentation with simple shapes.

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The presentation was attended by Mariana Pineda, councilor delegate for Culture and Historical Heritage; Luis Lafuente, director of the Public Agency for the management of the Birthplace of Pablo Ruiz Picasso and other museum and cultural facilities; Catherine Boireau, project manager at the Centre Pompidou; Juan Carlos Barroso, territorial manager in Andalusia, Ceuta, and Melilla for the »la Caixa» Foundation; and Juan Luis Ruiz, director of the CaixaBank Store Larios office in Málaga.

The Magic House

Designed by Swiss designer Adrien Rovero, 'The Magic House' is an immersive installation conceived as a space for discovery. Aimed at children aged 0 to 6 years, this architecture is presented as a playground, a dream apartment, and a monumental installation full of surprises.

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Situated halfway between a bucolic cabin and a small rational apartment, it is constructed solely with raw, unpainted, untreated wood. Its refined, strange yet welcoming appearance invites a reconsideration of everyday gestures and allows imagining new ways of circulation. References shift and invert: climbing through a chimney to reach the bedroom or passing through a refrigerator to access the bathroom. Each room thus becomes a place of experimentation where anything is possible.

Volume Play

'Volume Play' is a workshop devised together with architect Émilie Queney and conceived according to the foundational principles of Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Ando's work revolves around four main axes: the use of smooth concrete and light, the importance of simple geometric volumes, the integration of natural elements, and the bodily experience generated by his architectural proposals.

The installation invites exploration of the notions of void and fullness, light, and relationship with space. Through simple gestures and accessible construction techniques, participants—from one year of age—discover the language of architecture and are introduced to its fundamentals. Each action—manipulating, assembling, and transforming—allows for a concrete experience of shapes and volumes.

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Adrien Rovero

Born in 1981, Adrien Rovero is a Swiss designer. He opened his studio in Renens in 2006 and develops a practice that spans furniture design, lighting, and exhibition scenography.

His work is based on a constant observation of details and environmental needs, from which inventive, refined, and effective forms emerge. His formal vocabulary is constructed from assembly, recycling, and the displacement of shapes, materials, and functions.

His works are part of the public collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Grand-Hornu (Belgium), and the MUDAC–Cantonal Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Lausanne).

Émilie Queney

Born in 1979, Émilie Queney is a French architect and artist living and working in London. Passionate about the playful and poetic component of architecture, she directs her practice towards the discovery and dissemination of this discipline through play, enjoyment, manipulation, and creativity.

In 2014, she founded the platform archihihi.com, dedicated to the dissemination of architecture with the aim of proposing games and experimental activities linked to everyday life and manual work. She has collaborated on several occasions with the Centre Pompidou, especially in the creation of workshop-exhibitions aimed at families