Time, reverie and start over. The Beach and the Time by gru.a
26/08/2022.
[Copacabana] Brazil
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
A PRAIA E O TEMPO” was designed in the context of the ninth edition of the international performing arts festival “TEMPO FESTIVAL”, held in October 2018, on Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The project, the installation, is public and ephemeral, conceived as a public architectural installation by Pedro Varella and at the same time as a platform for performance in collaboration with the French choreographer Julie Desprairies.
The concept was thinking and designed like a reverie where the fine sand soil forms and deforms according to desires, and paying attention to the time and the metropolitan beach of Copacabana context as a place «for leisure, work, encounters, conflicts, sexuality, repression, sleep, sun, reading, games and more».
The project has been selected as Shortlist for the Mies Crown Hall Prize, 2022 MCHAP.emerge
The concept was thinking and designed like a reverie where the fine sand soil forms and deforms according to desires, and paying attention to the time and the metropolitan beach of Copacabana context as a place «for leisure, work, encounters, conflicts, sexuality, repression, sleep, sun, reading, games and more».
The project has been selected as Shortlist for the Mies Crown Hall Prize, 2022 MCHAP.emerge
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Elisa Mendes.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Elisa Mendes.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Elisa Mendes.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Elisa Mendes.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
Site plan. The Beach and the Time by gru.a.
Floor plan. The Beach and the Time by gru.a.
Deatils and sections. The Beach and the Time by gru.a.
The project created by Pedro Varella was organized by two different operations: demarcation and soil manipulation, which combined to generate a scenario that gradually changes over time, until its disappearance.
DEMARCATION consists of the insertion of a large 31x31m and 50 cm high quadrilateral structure that defines the work area. Created by the assemblage of pre-fab spatial beans normally used for short-term events like concerts or sports facilities, this structure was placed directly on the sandy soil, with no foundations. The structure serves both as a dynamic border for the intervention zone – bench, table, step, bridge - and as a device that will welcome the public at the moments in which the performance takes place, generating a 1000m² open-air arena on the sands of Copacabana.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
The SOIL MANIPULATION (a technique widely used in Rio de Janeiro to enable the occupation of its territory) served as the second act of the work. Matter already present in space – sand and water – was repositioned, radically modifying the current spatial configuration. The soil movement work was carried out with the aid of a small backhoe. At the centre of the intervention area, a hole of approximately 5 meters deep was dug. The depth was enough to form a small saltwater pool, linking the structure with the sea.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
At the end of the festival, the structure was dismantled and the place where it was installed became available again for any type of appropriation. The central hole was covered and the sand returned to its previous state. The metallic structure that served as demarcation was dismantled and its parts were transported to other locations to be reused. The architecture disappeared without leaving any material traces.
The Beach and the Time by gru.a. Photograph by Rafael Salim.
Project description by gru.a
"The beach is the place of leisure, work, meetings, sexuality, repression, sleeping, playing, the place of the sun and much more. A territory of instability, transformation, and uncertainty. Its thin sand soil forms and deforms to the taste of time and according to desires. One person or several? The crossing of footprints confuses us and indicates multiple possibilities, hypotheses that occupy the imaginary and defy the possibility of prediction. As the day goes on, so do the wind and the tide so that, at dawn, the territory becomes available again, always open to what will come. The beach makes you think about time, about a way of being and not being ".
The 9th edition of TEMPO_FESTIVAL - International Festival of Performing Arts Rio de Janeiro - presents "The Beach and the Time", an installation by the artist and architect Pedro Varella with the performance created by the French choreographer Julie Desprairies. Both are participating in the Crossed Artistic Residency Program of the French Institute of Brazil, which took place in 2018 during the festival, and is scheduled to continue in France in 2019.
The installation "The Beach and the Time" is organized by two combined operations: demarcating and repositioning. The first consists of the insertion of a large 31x31m and 50 cm high quadrilateral structure that demarcates the work area while serving as a support for the reception of the public. The second occurs from the movement of the existing matter in the place - sand and water – that, repositioned, gives rise to a new topographic landscape. Combined, the two operations generate a scenario that gradually changes during the TEMPO FESTIVAL.
More information
Architects
gru.a. Architect.- Pedro Varella.
Performance
Julie Desprairies.
Project team
gru.a (grupo de arquitetos): Caio Calafate, André Cavendish, Júlia Carreiro, Isadora Tebaldi.
Collaborators
Structural Consulting.- Rodrigo Affonso.
Performance.- Julie Desprairies.
Performance.- Julie Desprairies.
Client
Marcia Dias.
Realization
TEMPO_FESTIVAL and Instituto Francês do Brasil.
Area
1,000 m².
Dates
2018.
Sponsorship
Oi - Secretaria de Estado de Cultura do Rio de Janeiro – Governo do Rio de Janeiro – Lei Estadual de Incentivo à Cultura.
Support
Secretaria Municipal de Cultura – Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
Photography
Rafael Salim, Elisa Mendes.
Caio Calafate, Pedro Varella. Gru.a (grupo de arquitectos)
Gru.a (grupo de arquitectos) is an office, led by Caio Calafate and Pedro Varella, based in Rio de Janeiro. Since its formation in 2013, it has developed projects and works of various scales and natures, with a special interest in the intersection between the fields of architecture and visual arts. Parallel to the work of the office, the partners of the group are dedicated to academic research and teaching.
Caio Calafate is an architect from PUC-Rio (2010) and is a doctoral student in the postgraduate program in design at the Superior School of Industrial Design of the UER. He has a master's degree in projects from PUC-Rio (2015). He has an academic extension at the Technical University of Lisbon. He was the editor of Noz magazine between 2007 and 2010. His Ctcc competed in the Archiprix 2011, a final international degree project competition. Since 2015 he has been a professor of projects in architecture and urban planning career at Santa Úrsula University.
Pedro Varella is an architect from FAU/UFRJ (2011) with academic extension at the Paris-Malaquais school of architecture and a master's degree in project theory at Pro-arq UFRJ (2016). He has complementary training at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (EAV-RJ), where he studied between 2007 and 2010. He is co-author of the book Rio Metropolitano: Guia para Uma Arquitetura, published in 2013 with a research grant from FAPERJ. In 2015 he won the architecture award from the Tomie Othake AkzoNobel Institute with the quota 10 Project. He is currently a professor of projects at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at UFRJ. Since 2015 he has taught the architecture and urban planning course at the Holy University of Úrsula.
Caio Calafate is an architect from PUC-Rio (2010) and is a doctoral student in the postgraduate program in design at the Superior School of Industrial Design of the UER. He has a master's degree in projects from PUC-Rio (2015). He has an academic extension at the Technical University of Lisbon. He was the editor of Noz magazine between 2007 and 2010. His Ctcc competed in the Archiprix 2011, a final international degree project competition. Since 2015 he has been a professor of projects in architecture and urban planning career at Santa Úrsula University.
Pedro Varella is an architect from FAU/UFRJ (2011) with academic extension at the Paris-Malaquais school of architecture and a master's degree in project theory at Pro-arq UFRJ (2016). He has complementary training at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts (EAV-RJ), where he studied between 2007 and 2010. He is co-author of the book Rio Metropolitano: Guia para Uma Arquitetura, published in 2013 with a research grant from FAPERJ. In 2015 he won the architecture award from the Tomie Othake AkzoNobel Institute with the quota 10 Project. He is currently a professor of projects at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at UFRJ. Since 2015 he has taught the architecture and urban planning course at the Holy University of Úrsula.
Categories
Our selection
