PIRUETA DE MADEIRA
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Pirueta de madeira is a sculpture in the landscape of Mata do Fontelo. It’s a space of spirituality and reflection. Τhe journey starts from afar as one moves towards and catches a glimpse of this dancing structure emerging from the ground. The complexities of the inner structure are not completely revealed until one bows to enter through the tiny ‘door’, evoking the nijiriguchi of the japanese tea room, a space of rituals.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
The complexities of the inner structure are not completely revealed until one bows to enter through the tiny ‘door’, evoking the nijiriguchi of the japanese tea room, a space of rituals. Within the hut, the obvious directionality of the beams leads the eye upwards to a hole that is open to the sky. Sunlight, air and rain penetrate the space and create a dynamic environment and a unique experience depending on the time of day and seasonality. The design of the hut allows the inhabitant to be connected to the natural environment and absorb the elements with all their senses, while reflecting on their place in the world.
Key objectives for sustainability
Wood is a material with great physical properties that has been used in architecture throughout history, from medieval urban residences, to modern applications in all types of buildings. The design of Pirueta de madeira showcases the possibilities for efficient, economical, ecological and expressive wood architecture that arises at the intersection of craft, digital innovation and scientific research. This use of wood opens up new and unexpected possibilities for high performance and elegant structures with a sustainable and renewable building material.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The aim is to design an inhabitable space as well as the process of constructing a timber structure and a mechanism of assembly—a mechanism of placing and assembling multiple elements that compose an integrated ensemble. The structure develops vertically, forming a twisting tower. The distinctive form of the tower will constitute a truly contemporary architectural expression of a traditional construction material, celebrating the innate and natural characteristics of self-shaped wood in its upward spiraling shape.
Key objectives for inclusion
Our design is inspired from the cross-section bamboo scaffolds that have been used in building construction in China for over a few thousand years. Bamboo scaffolds are tubular frameworks with high degree of structural redundancy. In typical bamboo scaffolds, most of the members such as the posts are under compression while some of them such as the base or the main ledgers are under bending.
As these scaffolds constitute magical and sophisticated structures, we are aiming to create a sculpture made out of its crossover technique that will have a subsistence on each own and become a shell not to cover a monument but to encompass the visitor of Mata do Fontelo.
Innovative character
Pirueta de madeira is a series of vertical wooden beams arranged in a circle to form a tower. Each beam twists and as an integrated ensemble this pirueta results in a dancing form wider on the edges and narrow in the middle.
This shift - pirueta is inspired from the forest organic forms, its constant movements and its growth with time. It is a representation of a frozen move - an instance of the dance of nature in the breeze. It showcases nature’s sophisticated elegance but also stability, its adaptation to the current conditions and its evolution through time.
The shift of the beams creates a contraction in the middle of its height small enough to allow the view to the sky.
