pingadeira
cais das pedras
porto, portugal
When Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) built the "Beira" chair, she was waiting for a bus. She gathered wood and rope and ingeniously created a seat to wait. Waiting, in any case, is inherent in any culture, and here, where we chose to install the intervention, it seems like an appropriate place to wait - for what?
The intention of the proposal can be framed in these terms, a recontextualization of the piece and a reimagined setting for it, transcending the boundaries of water and building, with the city and its people, a space where, at the city's edge with the river, it is possible to exist.
Bringing together and blending contexts can be a complicated and problematic exercise; it is necessary to find the means through which a harmonious transposition can be achieved. Amid the obvious nuances between Brazil and Portugal, among architects and designers, the exercise may not be about readjusting materials and styles but contexts and gestures. Can Lina's chair be used as a waiting place facing the Douro River?
The chair is understood as a reference and reimagined as a possibility to test the flexibility of a system in its ability to adapt to a different context. Understanding water as something worth waiting for.
It is about the dialogue between Lina Bo Bardi and Porto, between land and water, subverting an objectual model to accentuate the collective potential of Cais das Pedras, at the edge of the Douro River.
Authors: Leonardo Dias and Rafael Manhães
This project was developed in the context of the open call for the Porto Design Bienale 2023.
