The Praca das Artes project in downtown Sao Paulo is now completely open, and the subject of a book just published by Azouge Editorial. The most ambitious intervention in the old centre for several decades, it is the work of Brasil Arquitetura Studio, led by Francisco Fanucci and Marcelo Ferraz, effectively the successor office of Lina Bo Bardi, along with Marcos Cartum of the Municipal Department of Culture.
A large urban block 'in poor health' according to Raul Juste Lores, its public open spaces are encompassed by a three dimensional composition incorporating schools of music and dance, rehearsal rooms, archives and concert auditoria. Most are housed in blocks of shuttered concrete, coloured by oxide pigments in shades of brown and red. Others are housed in revived buildings of the mid century, the project's narrative placed firmly in a reading of the historical significance of a location significant a hundred years ago, and intended as a gift to revive a needy part of the urban fabric with the pleasures of dance, music and art.
A large urban block 'in poor health' according to Raul Juste Lores, its public open spaces are encompassed by a three dimensional composition incorporating schools of music and dance, rehearsal rooms, archives and concert auditoria. Most are housed in blocks of shuttered concrete, coloured by oxide pigments in shades of brown and red. Others are housed in revived buildings of the mid century, the project's narrative placed firmly in a reading of the historical significance of a location significant a hundred years ago, and intended as a gift to revive a needy part of the urban fabric with the pleasures of dance, music and art.