In September 2000, architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha proposed something both possible and impossible: covering the Praça da República in downtown São Paulo with a suspended pool-beach. This provocative gesture challenges latent societal issues: the right to leisure, idleness, celebration, hygiene, self-care, sociability, entertainment, and the body. "Canteens, machine-locker rooms, and ramps" are nearly all the words that permeate this narrative project and inspire our workshop.
Through a series of presentations by guests from various fields of knowledge, the workshop invites participants to explore elevated spaces related to sports, games, and leisure, and subsequently develop designs for object-devices that support these activities.
Held over four sessions in a dance studio on the rooftop of a downtown building, the workshop is structured daily into two parts: lectures and studio sessions. At the end, the work will be presented in a public exhibition and compiled into a printed publication.
