VIRA-LATA in Porto, Portugal by Moradavaga

Article source: Moradavaga

Abstract:

“Vira-Lata” is the name of the installation conceived by Moradavaga. A communication tower which connects an upper street with the new public square next to Porto’s São Bento train station by a staircase and invites visitors at the same time to write their messages on the 2300 turn-able cans facade.

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

• Architects: Moradavaga
• Project: VIRA-LATA
• Location: Porto, Portugal
• Collaboration: (Manfred Eccli, Pedro Cavaco Leitão,  Rossana Ribeiro)
• Partner: Cavaco & Coquet, Lda
• Structure: Catari Portugal
• Support: Colep
• Date: 21 of March 2015 – September 2015

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Text:

“Vira-Lata” was born from an invitation by Porto Lazer to conceive an artistic piece that could integrate the Locomotiva project for the new public square next to Porto’s São Bento train station.
The gesture for the idea behind the project arose from the critical interpretation of the territory at hand, proposing a vertical element, both ludic and functional, that connects the level of the new square to the one of the street that passes above.
Crossing references from the act of travelling as from the railway world, the concept for the interactive facade of this public staircase, which also poses as a “communication tower”, derives from the informative screens in the stations that display the departures and arrivals.

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

By using a system of two different colours – the yellow found in the train carriages and the natural metal colour of the tin cans – the possibility to create original and personal messages and images – by turning each can as if in a massive analogical pixel screen -, is offered to the users who can actually participate actively in the constant mutation of the square’s image.

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Moradavaga (a contraction of the Portuguese words for “vague address”) is a collective born from the collaboration of architects Manfred Eccli (Bolzano, Italy, 1981) and Pedro Cavaco Leitão (Porto, Portugal, 1976).
Based in Berlin (Germany), Tramin (Italy) and Porto (Portugal), Moradavaga started working in 2006 around the issues of vacant spaces, derelict buildings and the activation of the public realm, devising performative objects and active interventions, such as social workshops, ideas competitions and architectural happenings.

Intersecting architecture, art and design, our works function as “dormant tools” in a waiting status, requiring the users engagement to activate them. The resulting interaction between the users and the objects both challenges and transforms their reciprocal relations, usually triggering an inner questioning about each piece and arousing a genuine sense of wonder in the process, thus achieving our main goal: to touch in a cultural, intellectual, sensorial and emotional level those who experience our creations.

Moradavaga’s varied and eclectic body of work, has gained international recognition over the years as evidenced by its participation in events promoted by renowned institutions and organizations such as Centro Cultural de Belém (Tanto Mar – Portugueses Fora de Portugal, Lisbon, 2014), Guimarães 2012 – European Capital of Culture (Pop Up Culture, 2012), Fundação de Serralves (Serralves em Festa, Porto, 2010), Oficina Segovia 2016 (Noche de Luna Llena, 2008), or its nomination for major awards in the sector as Mais Imaginarius 2014 (Winner), Berlin Urban Intervention Award 2013(Finalist), Prémio Nacional de Arquitectura em Madeira 2013 (Honorable Mention) orPrémio OutrosMercadus’10 (Finalist).

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Image Courtesy © Moradavaga

Tags: Porto, Portugal

Categories: Facade, Tower

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