CHARGED VOIDS

2013, Colonia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With Natalia Michadilou & Stephanie Keszi

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The secretary of housing in the Brazilian government invited ETH, Zurich to suggest interventions in a popular housing program by the name of ‘My Home My Life’. After a close study of the program and policy mechanisms through which it operates, a proposal was made to selectively intervene in the open public spaces leave the ‘Embryo house’ (The basic house with a living, sleeping and cooking area along with basic amenities) prescribed through the program as it is. The idea was that the embryo houses will grow organically over time however the network of open spaces will ensure that the neighborhood cell remains livable. We analysed ethnographically, the various popular uses and appropriations of public space in Brazilian cities and used this to inform our design. We programmed the various public spaces around programs such as capoeira, football, weekly markets, and guerrilla gardens and integrated them with the context through planting systematic connections between and with the neighborhood. The proposal alongside the work of our colleagues at the ETH was exhibited at StudioX in Rio de Janeiro and published as a book entitle 'Minha Casa, Minha Vida' (My Home My City) published in 2014 by Ruby Press.