Polyvalent Everyday Places in Sao Paulo

The concept of Polyvalent Everyday Places and the Repertoire of Polyvalent Elements was our contribution to the 12th International Architecture Biennial of Sao Paulo 2019 – todo dia / everyday – where we intended to continue a critical reflection upon while projecting Polyvalent Elements.

We expressed this invitation to our colleagues and students from Escola da Cidade / Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Sao Paulo, FADU, UBA / Buenos Aires and the Chair of Urban Planning and Design SuE / University of Stuttgart to discuss, reflect and build with this concept during a three-day workshop at Escola da Cidade and the Biennial.

We initiated an open, productive debate on the concept and adjacent issues – not only in its theoretical dimension but also by designing and building Elements and allocating them in an complex urban condition – Praca da Republica, one of the public spaces in the centre of Sao Paulo characterized by a lack of sojourn quality but also by great potential to change the current situation.

A poster provided the basis for the workshop in which we explained characteristic attributes and features of Polyvalent Everyday Places as well as the derivation of the respective Element with precedents in art, architecture and landscape design and thus the intensive alliance between space and everyday life.

After an introductory discussion and the first day of thinking, discussing, sketching and model building in Escola da Cidade, the participants had to build their proposals in the 1 to 1 scale during the second day in Oficinalab, an interesting workshop that combines arts, crafts, teaching and debates. The building process opened up a further dimension of experiences and reflection on the topic, as well as the allocation of the Elements as interventions at Praca da Republica on the third day.

A projecting approach to the concept opens the possibility of equipping the Elements with certain capacities through design within the limitations of the available skills of craft – a direct learning path to the usual vernacular occurrences in the private sphere. The Elements for the public became operative and visible in public space and became usable in various scopes, thus unfolding scopes of indeterminate action.

University of Stuttgart

Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning

Institute of Urban Planning and Design SuE

Stuttgart, Germany

Prof. Dr. Martina Baum

Sascha Bauer

Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism

„Walter Gropius“ – Chair (.UBA, fadu – DAAD)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Prof. titular ad honorem Markus Vogl

Associacao Escola da Cidade

Rua General Jardim, 65

Vila Buarque [metro Republica]

CEP: 01223-011 – Sao Paulo SP

Tel.: +55 (11) 3258 8108

www.escoladacidade.org

oficinalab

Rua Dr. Ribeiro de Almeida, 166

Barra Funda

Sao Paulo SP

www.oficinalab.com.br

@oficinalab

Supported by the General Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sao Paulo, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Goethe-Institute Sao Paulo.