"Experience of Brasília" evoked at interior installation in Niemeyer's São Paulo pavilion
Architecture studio Debaixo do Bloco has distilled the landscape, architecture and atmosphere of Brasília into a domestic-scale installation within Oscar Niemeyer's Bienal Pavilion in São Paulo.
Inside the modernist pavilion in Ibirapuera Park, Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura founder Clay Rodrigues installed an exhibition comprising a series of pilotis, curved surfaces and continuous planes, as well as a curated selection of Brazilian modernist furniture.
The aim is to evoke the cultural memory and essence of Brazil's capital city, and translate "the monumentality of its public architecture to an intimate scale".
"The space does not seek to represent the city, but to understand what shapes its atmosphere," said Rodrigues.
Rodrigues presented the installation during the inaguaral Brazilian Architecture Biennial in São Paulo.
Titled Brasília em Escala Doméstica, the exhibit recalls many of the features of Plano Piloto, the central urban core of Brasília planned by Lúcio Costa in 1956.
Niemeyer designed many of the federal buildings for the city, so his Bienal Pavilion – which exemplifies his modernist architectural style – served as an apt location for this exhibition.
The late architect's signature sweeping planes and curved surfaces are recreated in the 100-square-metre space, forming sculptural walls and spatial dividers around which the furniture vignettes are arranged like rooms in a house.
"The absence of ornament reinforces a quieter reading of the space, suggesting that architecture itself can shape the interior," Rodrigues said.
The pavilion's glazed facade inherently evokes those found across Brasília, while a green carpet laid throughout nods to Niemeyer's French Communist Party Headquarters in Paris.
Precast-concrete counters and an island in the kitchen area represent the speed at which the new capital city was built.
Furniture by Brazilian modernists Jorge Zalszupin, Joaquim Tenreiro and Sergio Rodrigues is paired with Dominici lighting fixtures that "reinforce the continuity of this modern vocabulary".
A colourful tapestry by Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral hangs on a white wall, while additional furniture by George Nelson and the Eameses references the international reach of modernism.
"The space thus proposes a meeting between architecture and memory," said Rodrigues. "An attempt to translate, at a domestic scale, the experience of being in Brasília."
Debaixo do Bloco has worked extensively in Brasília, having previously opened up the layout a 1960s apartment and designed a concrete home made up of three volumes.
In January 2023, rioters damaged the iconic Niemeyer-designed National Congress, Planalto Palace and Supreme Court buildings after storming the capital.
This prompted a proposal to turn the complex into a "fortress to protect democracy".
Brazilian Architecture Biennial ran from 25 March to 30 April at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. For more international happenings in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.
The photography is by Pedro Russo.
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