The main characteristics of the intervention of República Portatil are its light construction composed of a skeleton of multidirectional scaffolding covered by bands of polyester fabrics that define the degrees of transparency of the volume.
Description of project by República Portatil
FAV Pavilion
It is a temporary building designed for the Festival of Arts Valparaíso 2014 located in Plaza Sotomayor of this city and considers a specific occupation time of 16 days. The main characteristics of this pavilion are its light construction composed of a skeleton of multidirectional scaffolding covered by bands of polyester fabrics that define the degrees of transparency of the volume.
The square has a large esplanade, free of any element or object. Surrounded by vehicular traffic and very well delimited by institutional and commercial buildings, this great urban void is more a space of transition than permanence. To think about a temporary public space in these conditions, we proposed the central ideas of containing and permeating. Under these seemingly contradictory concepts, the idea of a garden appears, explained by John Brinckerhoff Jackson in his book, The Need for Ruins and Other Essays:
"A Garden offers a mental image, a protected place, but open to the sky. This opening allows that inside this present part of the universe that surrounds it. The word Garden comes from an Indo-European root, gher, which appears in many Latin, Greek, Slavic and Germanic words, used to designate such disparate things as patio, pasture, sowing, fence, house, fence, enclosure, stable, place fortified, garden "
Therefore, the pavilion would become a permeable space in all its limits, but highly recognizable and monumental capable of containing and limiting. An architecture without doors located in the center of the city, capable of supporting activities and transitory uses, at the same time as living spaces to stay for a determined time.
John Brickerhoff Jackson, The Need for Ruins and Other Essays, ARQ Editions, Santiago de Chile, 2012, p.36, original title The Necessity for Ruins and Other Topics, originally published by University of Massachusetts Press, 1980.
The strata of the Pavilion
In the first level of the Pavilion there is a garden with 200 native trees, fruit trees, ornamental plants, tall and low bushes, naturally setting the place. Among the foliage are furnished corners to host intimate meetings that allow you to stay for longer and perform activities in small groups of people.
Surrounding the whole Pavilion garden has a space that resembles a forest formed by bands of fabrics that reach a height of 10 m. Walking on the steel platforms, visitors will find playgrounds, swings and subtle thresholds where they can leave or enter the pavilion.
The upper floors host the activities of the work laboratory. Attached to the main staircase, like a balcony to the garden, the control bridge is located, a space destined to the control of audiovisual projections. There is the sound table and the light projectors.
In the third level flying over the first floor a large platform fragmented into strata make up the most permanent work stations. In the center are located work stations and at the ends the rest areas.
At the highest level the platforms provide multiple possibilities of use. Tents for accommodation and a large roof make up an urban viewer that works as a multipurpose space used for meetings, recreation activities and parties.
Transformability
At an urban level, the pavilion is installed on the square's esplanade as a monumental permeable object. Through the combination of the scaffolding structure and the web of fabrics, the building is transformed depending on the events that occur there. During the initial days the structure is fully exposed, the building reaches its highest degree of transparency. As the days go by, the structure acquires different degrees of opacity when the fabric coverings are installed. Thus, depending on the activities, the building changes its cladding position. In this way, the façade becomes a backdrop for the city. A large opening in the center can be used as a stage that opens the main façade towards the great esplanade of the city.
Illumination
For lighting, a series of fluorescent tubes were used on the facades of the building, arranged vertically on the pillars of the structure. The synchronized interaction of these elements with users and viewers through sensors and digital programming, sought to exalt the architectural qualities of the work and to provide a sense of interactivity with the visitor. All this process was designed under the open platform ARDUINO which allowed to work the hardware and software. To this, audiovisual projections developed by a series of guest artists, with different techniques, added color and shapes to the walls of the building at different times of the night
