Fala Atelier’s pavilion merges playfulness and functionality

The temporary structure designed by Fala Atelier at the 32nd São Paulo Biennal is an architectural pastiche, both playful and thoughtful.

Fala Atelier, Serralves's Pavilion, 32nd São Paulo Biennial, 2017

On the occasion of the 32nd São Paulo Biennial, Fala Atelier has installed a temporary art gallery in a slopped garden at the Serralves’ Foundation. The brief was vague and open to speculation. A folly, as the word itself suggests, is an extravagant, frivolous or unreal building, thought more for an artistic expression than for functional reasons. The pavilion is, indeed, all of that. Through a polyphonic repertoire, it aims at being both a temple, a temporary construction and a toy, neo-classical and post-modern.

A rational structure encloses a cubic volume. The understandable metric of the wood elements finds a mismatch in the proportions of the openings and in the apparently arbitrary colours. A plinth erases the relationship with the sloping terrain, claiming for autonomy. Two round black marble elements mark the entrances while a red beam crosses the inner space. Inside, five lounger chairs provide an uncertain sense of domesticity to the otherwise monumental construction. The folly is a playful combination of pragmatic seriousness and frivolous irony. A composition where each element has its own value, complementing and contradicting each other. Priscila Fernandes’ film about contemplation and leisure found a dialogue with both the park and the light-heartedness of the architecture. Perhaps, the folly was to architectural languages what Priscila’s film is to leisure: a joyful and reflective pastiche.

Img.5 Fala Atelier, Serralves’ Pavilion, 32nd São Paulo Biennial, 2017
Img.5 Fala Atelier, Serralves’ Pavilion, 32nd São Paulo Biennial, 2017
Project:
Serralves’ Pavilion
Program:
pavilion
Architects:
Fala Atelier
Design team:
Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares, Ahmed Belkhodja, Rute Peixoto, Elisa Sassi, Paulo Sousa
Contractor:
J Sousa Teixeira
Completion:
2017

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