What better way to welcome visitors to an animated film festival than with a big balloon? Flexible, inflatable and made from soft PVC and synthetic fibre, the bubble (bombolla) designed by the studio Vora Arquitectura of Barcelona looks just like an oversized balloon. In February, for the second year running, it will be the information point for Animac, Catalonia’s annual festival of animated cinema held in Lleida from 23 February to 1 March.

“It is flexible enough to be positioned in any open-air public space or even indoors. Its shape and size can be varied and when it is deflated it occupies very little space,” explain designers Pere Buil Castells, Jordi Fornells Castelló and Toni Riba Galí. On the outside the semi-transparent surface can be used as a projection screen from images. The internal space is simple but welcoming and furnished in accordance with sustainable criteria: the sandbag bench running around the circumference is covered in waste fabric (to be recycled at the end of the event) and also serves to anchor the balloon to the ground. A series of standard lamps lend a homely feel to the environment. E.S.