Designing an ephemeral pavilion with large experimental freedom, without the usual constraints that are present in conventional briefings, is a great opportunity that ArcelorMittal offers to architects, rare in Brazil although usual in institutions, museums and cultural centers worldwide, promoting architecture in its deepest reason: the spatial and technological research towards the invention of new ways for everyday life.
In this edition, the challenge goes beyond the ephemeral construction, proposing an initial implementation at CASACOR Minas that could allow varied uses and, at the same time, could be dismantled and reassembled in other contexts. The idea of reusing the structure and so increasing its lifetime converges to the most contemporary trends of the circular economy that ArcelorMittal embraces.
Its insertion at Sapucaí Street, a complex and lively urban context that is going through a recent transformation, reinforces the cultural and gastronomical vocation of the neighborhood. At the frontal court of a beautiful historic building that used to house the offices of a Railway Company, the pavilion relates in different ways to the context: the elevated terrace offers a great view to the city; the existing old locomotive is integrated to the building, trespassing one of its spaces; the shade of the trees blends to the new shades of its walls; the listed building’s facade define a strong materiality against the quite immaterial presence of the pavilion.
