WASHING CYCLES
restore, renew, requalify, reinterpret
This project was made for the "Made-In international competition" of ideas for public artworks destined to reconfigure 4 existing Wash Houses in the city of Guimarães beyond 2012. The premise of the commission for the public spacial intervention (permanent) is based upon two elements: the socially engagement aspects of the project and the need for a permanent sculptural / architectural work by an artist or architect.
The aim of my intervention was to create an artistic itinerary that can generate new prospects that visit and stay in these wash houses, while creating a cultural circuit which is experienced in all cycles of the laundry. In this way, visitors join to give a new presence of occupation and to add new value to these places. The intention was to restore the wash houses and does not change its essence and traditional values and heritage.
Each of the four washers was assigned a unique identity, based on an element of the washing process: the water as the primordial element, which surrounds the entire washing process; The tap as a symbol of human genius in controlling the movement of water; The soap as an element that gives meaning to the act of washing; The drying as the end of the washing process.
The chrome steel was the material chosen for each element of the proposals, because of his glare and reflection, creating a fantastic and differentiating effect, contrasting with the space around it. The curved shapes of chrome parts try to reproduce the constant movement of water.
The water
The water as the primordial element, which surrounds the entire washing process. Her constant motion, clarity and reflection were the points of inspiration to create a structure that contemplates those same qualities. The washerwomen will feel welcomed and who passes by, will repair in a differentiating and fantastic effect that seeks to reproduce the movement of water. The bench calls for an approach and experience of touch in his curling form and perception in his reflection. The chrome-domed steel gives shape to these elements.
The tap
The tap as a symbol of human genius in controlling the movement of water. With that genius we transformed the landscape and bring the water to impossible places, with drains, aqueducts and taps. A steel structure creates a wireframe tap and a cylindrical shape simulates the water flowing with curved chromed steel, uniting the two forms into a symbiosis easily recognizable.
The soap
The soap as an element that gives meaning to the act of washing. It is he who transforms the water and renews the clothes for a new cycle. Get dirty and washing are two actions that give meaning to the washers. As it, the bowl is part of this process. The clothes in soapy water, is left in the bowl, preparing them for the wash, and, in the process, some bubbles are released into the air... It’s these moments that I seek to convey in this facility, with a bowl in a steel structure creating a wireframe, and some curved chromed steel spheres, suspended in the shed.
The drying
The drying as the end of the washing process. After the clothes have been twisted, stayed in soapy water and drained, it up the elements such as the wind and the sun to dry them. For this we have to extend the cloths, arrange it over a hanger and wait for the water disappears completely. The wind passes through the cloths in a ballet of curves and the pitiless sun heats all the fibers. With chrome steel plates of different sizes and arranged along the roof, reproduces the drying time and contemplation, as if it were a hanger.
Inspiration images
Intervention places