Canteens, locker-room machines and ramps was a space-and-object workshop organized by CLUBE in partnership with ETH Zürich’s Department of Architecture, with visual identity and communication strategy developed by ccarta.
The workshop
In September 2000, architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha proposed something that seemed impossible: covering Praça da República, in downtown São Paulo, with a suspended pool-beach. This attitude challenged latent issues in urban society: the right to leisure, idleness, celebration, hygiene, self-care, sociability and entertainment. From the calcified pressure of what verticality, body, action and object mean in this specific city, Canteens, Locker Rooms–Machine, and Ramps was born — both as a research project and an educational, experimental workshop.
The participants were invited to explore elevated spaces related to sports, work and leisure practices, and then develop objects that could support or expand these activities. Held over four meetings in a dance studio on the rooftop of a downtown building in São Paulo, the workshop was structured daily in two moments: lectures (with guests from different fields of knowledge) and studio sessions.
In the end, the works were presented in an open-to-the-public party-exhibition on the same rooftop, a sort of “meta wrap-up” to expand even further the core concept of the workshop: the city relations, elevated.
While visiting iconic buildings in the city, like Estádio Pacaembu and Sesc 24 de Maio (a cultural center remodeled by Paulo Mendes da Rocha himself), and learning about practices that range from multidisciplinary architecture to fashion design and music production, the students had to develop structure prototypes with minimal materials (paper or clay, and no computer software). They also had to design how these prototypes would be displayed in a final exhibition – the location itself was an elevated space: a dance studio on the top of a building in downtown São Paulo. This way, the theme of elevated spaces, hands-on assimilations, and multidisciplinary workflows was explored from multiple angles, and both individually and collectively.
Visual and educational design, unvarnished
The visual identity took inspiration from the physical traces of urban production and process, using typography, colors, and other visual elements that reference architectural documentation and action — such as technical sketches (including Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s original 2000 drafts), architectural blueprints, and construction signage.
These elements were purposefully rearranged in a loose way, both as an allusion to the workshop’s prototype-driven, experimental approach — which values experimentation over polished results — and to avoid exerting too much figurative influence on the students. We wanted to allow them to arrive at their own concepts and visuals independently.
To promote the workshop, we wanted to step outside the digital realm and play in the physical world for a change — putting up posters in places that share the same social energy we hoped to “bring into the classroom”: bars, cafés, and schools. For the outdoor identity, we chose a bold yellow as the centerpiece. This punchy, monochromatic tone, paired with a quiet (almost sleepy) layout that contrasted with the maximalist chaos of most of the city’s advertising, allowed the workshop’s form to match the strength of its content.
For the workshop itself, we aimed for neutrality: materials were either plain white or a light shade of blueprint-like green.
CREDITS
Organization:
CLUBE
Guest Lecturers:
322A, Angélique Kuenzle, Guilherme Pianca, Jalaconda, Kosmos, MacIver-Ek Chevroulet, Marina Dalgalarrondo & Raphaela Melsohn
Design & Creative Strategy:
ccarta (Erik Gütschow, Enzo Carrieri)
Photography:
Erik Gütschow, Gabriel Biselli
Chef:
Neilson Silva
DJ Set:
Desampa
Workshop Location:
Esponja – Avenida Vieira de Carvalho, 192, apto 111, República, São Paulo