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This video video discusses a synthesis project focused on understanding contemporary architecture in relation to the modern world, highlighting a lack of dominant architectural dogmas and the significant changes brought about by technology. It emphasizes listening to the public and engaging in dialogue to produce relevant architecture rather than creating in isolation. The discussion touches on the importance of recreation and criticism in the architectural process, advocating for a return to architecture as a human-centered art form.

The speaker reflects on their specific interest in beaches as a vital cultural and environmental context that can inform architectural practices. They argue that the beach serves as a microcosm of urban life, offering lessons for contemporary architecture. By observing the dynamics of beach culture, such as community interaction and ephemeral structures, architects can incorporate flexibility and adaptability into design.

This video video also notes the speaker's personal memories of the beach and how these experiences can shape architectural understanding. It stresses the need for an inclusive perspective, drawing insights from various fields, including art, literature, and phenomenology, to enhance architectural comprehension and response to human needs. Overall, the speaker advocates for architecture that embraces these lessons from the beach environment, fostering a new understanding of space and human interaction within urban contexts.

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The synthesis project is a collaboration

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between many people, like ongoing conversation

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on the possibility

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of understanding the contemporary condition,

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especially in terms of thinking architecture in relationship

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to contemporary world.

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Uh, I think we live in a time

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where it's very interesting in terms of thinking, in terms

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of creating, in terms of finding new grounds for practice,

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which is, is a time, let's say, without a big dogma

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like the international movement in architecture, like,

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postmodernism more recently or the constructivism.

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We don't have any dogmas now,

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but we live in a time of, exacerbation.

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We live in a time of, intensity, and

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therefore we live in a time of great,

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great speed and great change as a result of the speed,

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especially speed in relationship to technology.

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So that's a really good thing.

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That's a really good time to,

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to rethink the architectural project or the urban project

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and think the big questions of today, I think,

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what happens in relationship to architecture discourse is,

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is that because there is not a single platform in which base

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synthesis, which is the possibility

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of bringing different ideas together, of bringing different,

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even different movements together,

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different philosophies together, is equivalent pretty much

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to contemporary culture as we can see in general,

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culture, let's say in cinema, as we can see

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in popular culture, et cetera.

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So what happens is that synthesis is this opportunity

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for us to rethink.

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The architectural project, is led, mainly

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by Carlos Ruta, Dr.

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Carlos Ruta,

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and in collaboration with, Ricardo Castro,

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professor Ricardo Castro from McGill University

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and Robert Melly,

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and an ongoing of, group of extended collaborators.

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They are engaging in this, conversation

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for a few years now.

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We have always to be ready to, when practicing architecture,

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when developing ideas of architecture,

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it is a creative process.

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Um, we have gone through, let's say,

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crucial moments in architecture in the past 50,

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60 years in the history of architecture,

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and now is a moment to take a pause.

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But architecture doesn't stop. Life doesn't stop.

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Uh, the city doesn't stop.

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So we have to think about what would be,

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where are the movements or the thoughts

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and the ideas that will be coherent with our times

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right now, because of this lack of dogma

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or what I could even refer to Roland Bart's notion

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of the data of the author.

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The data of the author means that the,

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the writer doesn't have control over the literary work,

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but that control

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and that power is given to the reader, right?

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So it's more of a dialogue

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between the author and the audience.

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And therefore, in architecture is similar.

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Is not the architecture working from a ivory tower anymore,

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but is an architect that listens to the people that listens

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to the city, that listens

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to the big complex problems of the world.

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And instead of coming up

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with architecture ideas in isolation,

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that idea happens in dialogue.

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Therefore, there's a, there's an urge.

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Um, a stronger urge to recreate something

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then creates something from the, the scratch, right?

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The, the idea of recreation is the idea that

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absolutely embraces history, embraces criticism, right?

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And by extension recreation, which is the act

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of drawing new architecture, drawing is central to

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that process, has, a branch

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or an extension into criticism.

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So criticism and drawing in architecture should happen

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simultaneously and not one thing before the other, right?

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So what happened is today,

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architecture leaves in a type type of crisis,

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where the capital, especially starting in the eighties,

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the capital or money

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or capitalism, starts

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to control production in a very aggressive way,

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in a very controlling way.

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And what happened is architects start to develop strategies

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to respond to the capital, right?

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And therefore, the, the main, let's say the main mandate

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of architecture, which is an art form,

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has been gladed, right?

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So the idea of synthesis actually is to re approximate the,

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a act of creation through recreation with criticism.

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So those things actually walk hand in hand.

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Uh, and I, the idea I think personally

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for me is the possibility of recovering the original mandate

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of architecture that is for sure to respond

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to human needs.

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But the main need of architecture is still an spiritual one,

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therefore, an art form architecture as an art form.

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The beach as, you can imagine

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is very close to Brazilians.

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So I cannot, separate myself

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from my own roots here in Brazil.

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Um, you know, pretty much like Canada, the place

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that I practice, the pre place that I I am in academia

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developed its urban region

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along the border of us.

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Brazil developed its urban conservation along the coast

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in proximity to Africa and Europe, right?

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And therefore what's in the coast there is the beach,

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therefore, the beach geographically,

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but also mythologically is very close to the formation

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of the Brazilian imaginary,

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and is very close to the identity

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of Brazilians is very close to the

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everyday life of Brazilians.

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Uh, what happen is, the beach is so close

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that we don't have the necessary distance sometimes

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to the critical distance,

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to really reflect on the importance of the beach,

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what does really mean for culture, but also for architecture

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and urbanism.

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And many years ago, I was, spending some time in Rio,

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in Copacabana Beach.

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And I had an epiphany, I had a moment in which I started

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to look at the phenomenon of the beach, as a possibility

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for architecture, as a possibility to think architecture, to

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critique architecture, and also to generate architecture.

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And then, you know, gradually that became a, a subject

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of study, and then later on became the subject

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of my doctorate.

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But the idea of the beach as environmental condition,

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in this case, in the case of my study,

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which is called beach scape, it,

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it is to understand what, as architects

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and urbanists, we can learn from the beach

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and actually apply to architectural projects distinctively.

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So sitting on the beach, I started to understand,

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let's say, the life that takes space is,

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on this extended surface, which is the surface of sand.

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And of course, that extends to the whole idea

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of the environment is the ocean, is the horizon,

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is the sky, the sun, the landscape, the people,

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the infrastructure of the beach, the boardwalk, the kiosks,

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the food, the, the street vendors that go by coppa,

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cabana all the time, which creates

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a micro cause of the city.

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The beach becomes a microcosm of the city

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and becomes, in this case, in the case of Brazil,

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a micro cause of the country.

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So the beach has all its,

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let's say lessons, all the things that we can, learn

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and apply into the architectural process,

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but also comes with all its crisis.

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So when we start looking at the beach as a holistic,

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all all around phenomenon, right?

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It becomes almost like, a manual of instructions on

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how we can rethink architecture.

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So in this case, the beach environment condition,

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and the experiences that, you mentioned, it starts

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to serve, to map all those possibilities for it.

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So, the compose,

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the composer in which you mentioned is Dorival.

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Kami Dorival is, one of the most celebrated,

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Brazilian composers of popular music.

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And he lived on the beach all his time,

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and he basically, throughout his work,

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throughout his poetry, he narrates the beach to the people.

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So we start to have an understanding of the beach

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through the words of the music of Do Val Kami.

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So it's already a translation of it.

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So it can start to become conscientious about the beach

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instead of just take advantage in, in, in terms

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of a pleasure ground or a pleasure landscape.

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The, the, the playwright Nelson

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also is somebody who understood the beach

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and, wrote very much about the beach in his place,

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in his, novels.

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Um, he also, becomes a translator of that

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and the architect, there's an artist too, Sika,

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who draw who drew from the beach in terms of the materiality

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of his work, in terms of the social dynamics of the beach,

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and translated that into his objects,

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sculptures, installations.

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And ultimately, I think what's probably closer to,

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to the, the experience of the beach is Leor busier.

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Um, I was very curious.

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Uh, leor busier, developed, a project,

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in the south of France, which was, a little shack,

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a little beach house that he used to go every,

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summer with his wife.

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And the beach house was really the essential that he needed

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to leave, so essential

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that he didn't even have a kitchen or a bathroom

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because it was built in the site of, a friend of his

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who own a little resort.

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So he used to eat in the restaurant,

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and he used the facilities of the resort in exchange.

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He said, I can help you, I can help you with any kind of,

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work, architectural work you need.

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And, what's I think, fatalistic about that,

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that experience is that there's exactly the locale,

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the site in which liquor busier past.

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So for me, there is a, a, a mythological, symbolic,

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strong symbolic importance on the relationship of,

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le busier in really in, in regards to the beach.

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Le Cabon, which is the name of his shack, his summer house,

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for me is a synthesis of a translation

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of the beach scape of the beach as a culture experience,

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as an anthropological dynamics experience translated

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directly into architecture.

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And that's what I, I am interested,

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I've been interested in the past few years initiating

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with my doctorate to continue this project, in order

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to find ways, find, tactics,

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find strategies that we learned from the beach,

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and try to convey into contemporary architecture.

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'cause the contemporary architecture needs the dynamics

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of the beach in order to survive within,

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the urban landscape.

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Beach memories, of course, you know,

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it starts from my own personal memory, is the memory

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of being the beach, because the memory is not only

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to play on the sand and to build a sand castle

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or to play in the water

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or surf a wave, the memories sometimes are subconscious.

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The memories sometimes are mythological,

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the memories sometimes are even phenomenological.

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Your body remembers certain experiences, right?

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For example, the warm breeze or the warm water, right?

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Which for especially for a little boy,

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reminds phenomenologically the mother's womb.

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So it is the mother's womb is this idea of the paradise,

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this idea of being the perfect place

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where everything absolutely is comfortable,

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and your safe state of mind, your

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physical physiological state is in absolutely 100% comfort.

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So the idea of memories of the beach,

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has many different dimensions.

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And all those dimensions happens to absolutely everybody.

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What happen is those memories are very intuitive.

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They are very spontaneous,

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but most importantly, they are, subconscious.

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They don't come to the surface

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translated either into the drawing

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or to criticize more into philosophy

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or thinking into reflection, right?

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So my work has, let's say, a little bit of this role

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to translate those memories

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and bringing significance,

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bringing meaning to those memories.

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So as artists, as architects, we can, be informed

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by them and find a way

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to transform architecture today, right?

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Also, the meat of the beach, even even for the ones

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that don't live by the ocean, even for the ones

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that don't have such a ingrained, powerful beach experience

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as I have, is always present, right?

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For me, the beach doesn't, the beach is not

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detached from the idea of the horizon.

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The beach is always connected to a large body of water

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and the end of the body of water.

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And in Canada, for example,

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the popular beach is a lake beach.

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It's not an ocean beach,

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but the lakes in Canada are so huge,

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and there are so many

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that it feels like we are in the ocean.

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That condition, describes always a horizon.

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And when we are contemplating the horizon,

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we are contemplating ourselves.

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We are contemplating, let's say the possibility

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of the human right, the imagination, the possibility

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of transformation, and

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therefore the possibility of a new civilization.

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And I think we are urging today,

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for their invention, right, with the big questions we have,

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if they are either political, environmental, economical,

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we have the responsibilities as architects to reinvent

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our civilization.

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And the beach, for me is one of the references, one

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of the promises to, to invite me

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to think about this new possibility for a new civilization.

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Phenomenology is a branch of, philosophy in which,

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attempts to understand reality,

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not simply from a rational, let's say from a

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intellectual point of view,

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but is wholesome, is holistic,

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especially in relationship to the perception of the body.

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So there is a strong tradition,

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especially in the western world, to rationalize,

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experience to towards rationalize experience,

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to, let's say, to some kind of logic.

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But experience cannot be simply translated to logic.

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That right phenomenology comes in to understand experience

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or the in increasing intrinsic

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and wholesome human experience as a whole.

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And that includes the body get,

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that includes our haptic system, that

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Includes our sight, our vision,

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that includes our sensations, our texture,

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that includes sensations.

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Like the smell includes notions of space, notions

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of comfort, how we feel at space, how we feel as,

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as a full, let's say being

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a complete being, having an architecture experience.

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Or in the case of the beach, have a,

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a whole understand simultaneous from all those, let's say,

18:24.765 --> 18:28.685
neurological, intellectual, emotional levels

18:28.865 --> 18:30.485
of perception that the body has.

18:31.485 --> 18:35.445
Starting from that, I, I started having,

18:36.065 --> 18:39.565
as well a phenomenological approach to understand the beach.

18:39.565 --> 18:43.765
That's why I have included poets, artists, musicians,

18:44.625 --> 18:48.845
and geographers economists in this

18:49.475 --> 18:52.565
kind of, we can say complex interdisciplinary,

18:52.775 --> 18:54.645
understand what the beach is.

18:55.505 --> 18:59.045
Um, that led me to certain realizations

18:59.075 --> 19:03.325
that were really fundamental for me to understand

19:03.785 --> 19:06.885
how the experience of the beach can be translated

19:07.395 --> 19:08.525
into architecture.

19:09.265 --> 19:13.645
For example, every single beach is,

19:14.105 --> 19:16.045
predominantly formed

19:16.585 --> 19:19.525
by an extensive surface, right?

19:20.155 --> 19:24.445
Most of the time, a surface that's comfortable, a service

19:25.035 --> 19:27.965
made by scent, right?

19:29.545 --> 19:33.525
And in that surface, there is all kinds of phenomena

19:33.995 --> 19:35.125
that takes place.

19:36.025 --> 19:38.965
For example, in Rio,

19:40.155 --> 19:45.125
most people don't bring chairs to, to the beach one,

19:45.125 --> 19:47.725
because there are chairs that can be rented,

19:48.265 --> 19:52.325
but you can build your own chair out of the sand.

19:52.785 --> 19:56.445
So that relationship starts to create,

19:57.245 --> 19:59.605
phenomenological connection to the body

19:59.945 --> 20:03.365
as you shape the sand to take the shape of your own body

20:04.065 --> 20:05.165
in order to be there.

20:06.025 --> 20:09.965
Um, also the, the phenomenon of the sand

20:10.225 --> 20:13.925
as being a material that change the moves, moves

20:14.475 --> 20:18.085
basically at the pace of the minute, right?

20:18.585 --> 20:23.085
Is, is, is kind of, it's flexible, it's light,

20:23.905 --> 20:26.085
is adaptable to the body.

20:26.465 --> 20:28.605
The body takes the shape of the sand,

20:28.785 --> 20:31.405
the sand takes the shape of the body, right?

20:31.955 --> 20:35.975
Creates a flexible, a flexible surface

20:36.835 --> 20:40.135
in which all kinds of human activities take place.

20:40.625 --> 20:44.735
Those activities don't repeat from day to day.

20:45.365 --> 20:47.605
They always change in a daily basis.

20:47.785 --> 20:50.485
In hourly basis, the space changes.

20:51.865 --> 20:55.565
So what we need is an architecture that has the character

20:55.705 --> 21:00.005
of change, an architecture that transforms itself to adapt

21:00.145 --> 21:03.405
to the human condition, to the needs of the human,

21:04.255 --> 21:07.405
especially the great needs we have in the urban

21:07.475 --> 21:08.925
centers, right?

21:09.825 --> 21:12.735
KU has says that we are, you know,

21:12.915 --> 21:15.095
our f is the city.

21:15.995 --> 21:17.215
We are going to the city.

21:17.395 --> 21:19.055
We are going to end up in the city,

21:19.325 --> 21:21.775
therefore, our life is the city, right?

21:22.235 --> 21:26.175
So when I think about a building, when I think about,

21:26.355 --> 21:28.375
an architecture, I think about the beach

21:29.545 --> 21:33.695
where the ground assumes the shape of all kinds

21:33.695 --> 21:36.655
of human conditions that is taking place, right?

21:36.995 --> 21:39.215
One example is the building that I'm talking from,

21:39.665 --> 21:44.135
which is the co building by empire in Sao Paulo.

21:44.445 --> 21:45.615
There's a very interesting,

21:45.615 --> 21:47.455
there's 5,000 people that live in the building.

21:47.845 --> 21:49.415
It's a very flexible building.

21:50.235 --> 21:53.735
The ground floor, I consider to be a beach scape,

21:54.005 --> 21:56.815
because the ground floor, instead of being a rigid

21:57.325 --> 22:00.935
flat ground, it takes the shape

22:01.035 --> 22:02.895
of the topography of the city.

22:03.635 --> 22:06.695
So the points in which people go into the beach

22:06.955 --> 22:10.175
or into the building, and the ground floor is also public,

22:10.525 --> 22:14.175
therefore is another beach scape is very flexible,

22:14.195 --> 22:18.415
and it's very adaptable to more than 70 different

22:18.935 --> 22:22.175
businesses that happen in the ground floor between cafes,

22:22.535 --> 22:26.295
restaurants, stores, salons, hair salons,

22:26.915 --> 22:29.095
and all kinds of services, right?

22:29.675 --> 22:32.455
So I think the coop building is a perfect example

22:32.515 --> 22:34.535
of beach scape and the translation.

22:34.575 --> 22:37.455
I made the connection here from phenomenology

22:37.715 --> 22:38.575
to architecture.

00:00 - The synthesis project is a collaboration between many people, like ongoing conversation on the possibility of understanding the contemporary condition, especially in terms of thinking architecture in relationship to contemporary world.

00:19 - I think we live in a time where it's very interesting in terms of thinking, in terms of creating, in terms of finding new grounds for practice, which is, is a time, let's say, without a big dogma like the international movement in architecture, like, postmodernism more recently or the constructivism. We don't have any dogmas now, but we live in a time of, exacerbation. We live in a time of, intensity, and therefore we live in a time of great,

00:59 - great speed and great change as a result of the speed, especially speed in relationship to technology. So that's a really good thing. That's a really good time to, to rethink the architectural project or the urban project and think the big questions of today, I think, what happens in relationship to architecture discourse is, is that because there is not a single platform in which base synthesis, which is the possibility of bringing different ideas together, of bringing different,

01:38 - even different movements together, different philosophies together, is equivalent pretty much to contemporary culture as we can see in general, culture, let's say in cinema, as we can see in popular culture, et cetera. So what happens is that synthesis is this opportunity for us to rethink. The architectural project, is led, mainly by Carlos Ruta, Dr. Carlos Ruta,

02:10 - and in collaboration with, Ricardo Castro, professor Ricardo Castro from McGill University and Robert Melly, and an ongoing of, group of extended collaborators. They are engaging in this, conversation for a few years now. We have always to be ready to, when practicing architecture, when developing ideas of architecture, it is a creative process. we have gone through, let's say,

02:40 - crucial moments in architecture in the past 50, 60 years in the history of architecture, and now is a moment to take a pause. But architecture doesn't stop. Life doesn't stop. the city doesn't stop. So we have to think about what would be, where are the movements or the thoughts and the ideas that will be coherent with our times right now, because of this lack of dogma or what I could even refer to Roland Bart's notion

03:17 - of the data of the author. The data of the author means that the, the writer doesn't have control over the literary work, but that control and that power is given to the reader, right? So it's more of a dialogue between the author and the audience. And therefore, in architecture is similar. Is not the architecture working from a ivory tower anymore, but is an architect that listens to the people that listens

03:49 - to the city, that listens to the big complex problems of the world. And instead of coming up with architecture ideas in isolation, that idea happens in dialogue. Therefore, there's a, there's an urge. a stronger urge to recreate something then creates something from the, the scratch, right? The, the idea of recreation is the idea that absolutely embraces history, embraces criticism, right?

04:23 - And by extension recreation, which is the act of drawing new architecture, drawing is central to that process, has, a branch or an extension into criticism. So criticism and drawing in architecture should happen simultaneously and not one thing before the other, right? So what happened is today, architecture leaves in a type type of crisis, where the capital, especially starting in the eighties, the capital or money

04:58 - or capitalism, starts to control production in a very aggressive way, in a very controlling way. And what happened is architects start to develop strategies to respond to the capital, right? And therefore, the, the main, let's say the main mandate of architecture, which is an art form, has been gladed, right? So the idea of synthesis actually is to re approximate the, a act of creation through recreation with criticism.

05:29 - So those things actually walk hand in hand. and I, the idea I think personally for me is the possibility of recovering the original mandate of architecture that is for sure to respond to human needs. But the main need of architecture is still an spiritual one, therefore, an art form architecture as an art form. The beach as, you can imagine is very close to Brazilians. So I cannot, separate myself

06:05 - from my own roots here in Brazil. you know, pretty much like Canada, the place that I practice, the pre place that I I am in academia developed its urban region along the border of us. Brazil developed its urban conservation along the coast in proximity to Africa and Europe, right? And therefore what's in the coast there is the beach, therefore, the beach geographically, but also mythologically is very close to the formation

06:43 - of the Brazilian imaginary, and is very close to the identity of Brazilians is very close to the everyday life of Brazilians. what happen is, the beach is so close that we don't have the necessary distance sometimes to the critical distance, to really reflect on the importance of the beach, what does really mean for culture, but also for architecture and urbanism.

07:12 - And many years ago, I was, spending some time in Rio, in Copacabana Beach. And I had an epiphany, I had a moment in which I started to look at the phenomenon of the beach, as a possibility for architecture, as a possibility to think architecture, to critique architecture, and also to generate architecture. And then, you know, gradually that became a, a subject of study, and then later on became the subject of my doctorate. But the idea of the beach as environmental condition,

07:51 - in this case, in the case of my study, which is called beach scape, it, it is to understand what, as architects and urbanists, we can learn from the beach and actually apply to architectural projects distinctively. So sitting on the beach, I started to understand, let's say, the life that takes space is, on this extended surface, which is the surface of sand. And of course, that extends to the whole idea of the environment is the ocean, is the horizon,

08:31 - is the sky, the sun, the landscape, the people, the infrastructure of the beach, the boardwalk, the kiosks, the food, the, the street vendors that go by coppa, cabana all the time, which creates a micro cause of the city. The beach becomes a microcosm of the city and becomes, in this case, in the case of Brazil, a micro cause of the country. So the beach has all its, let's say lessons, all the things that we can, learn

09:07 - and apply into the architectural process, but also comes with all its crisis. So when we start looking at the beach as a holistic, all all around phenomenon, right? It becomes almost like, a manual of instructions on how we can rethink architecture. So in this case, the beach environment condition, and the experiences that, you mentioned, it starts to serve, to map all those possibilities for it. So, the compose,

09:44 - the composer in which you mentioned is Dorival. Kami Dorival is, one of the most celebrated, Brazilian composers of popular music. And he lived on the beach all his time, and he basically, throughout his work, throughout his poetry, he narrates the beach to the people. So we start to have an understanding of the beach through the words of the music of Do Val Kami. So it's already a translation of it. So it can start to become conscientious about the beach

10:18 - instead of just take advantage in, in, in terms of a pleasure ground or a pleasure landscape. The, the, the playwright Nelson also is somebody who understood the beach and, wrote very much about the beach in his place, in his, novels. he also, becomes a translator of that and the architect, there's an artist too, Sika, who draw who drew from the beach in terms of the materiality of his work, in terms of the social dynamics of the beach,

10:58 - and translated that into his objects, sculptures, installations. And ultimately, I think what's probably closer to, to the, the experience of the beach is Leor busier. I was very curious. leor busier, developed, a project, in the south of France, which was, a little shack, a little beach house that he used to go every, summer with his wife. And the beach house was really the essential that he needed

11:31 - to leave, so essential that he didn't even have a kitchen or a bathroom because it was built in the site of, a friend of his who own a little resort. So he used to eat in the restaurant, and he used the facilities of the resort in exchange. He said, I can help you, I can help you with any kind of, work, architectural work you need. And, what's I think, fatalistic about that, that experience is that there's exactly the locale,

12:07 - the site in which liquor busier past. So for me, there is a, a, a mythological, symbolic, strong symbolic importance on the relationship of, le busier in really in, in regards to the beach. Le Cabon, which is the name of his shack, his summer house, for me is a synthesis of a translation of the beach scape of the beach as a culture experience, as an anthropological dynamics experience translated directly into architecture. And that's what I, I am interested,

12:46 - I've been interested in the past few years initiating with my doctorate to continue this project, in order to find ways, find, tactics, find strategies that we learned from the beach, and try to convey into contemporary architecture. 'cause the contemporary architecture needs the dynamics of the beach in order to survive within, the urban landscape. Beach memories, of course, you know, it starts from my own personal memory, is the memory

13:20 - of being the beach, because the memory is not only to play on the sand and to build a sand castle or to play in the water or surf a wave, the memories sometimes are subconscious. The memories sometimes are mythological, the memories sometimes are even phenomenological. Your body remembers certain experiences, right? For example, the warm breeze or the warm water, right? Which for especially for a little boy, reminds phenomenologically the mother's womb.

13:56 - So it is the mother's womb is this idea of the paradise, this idea of being the perfect place where everything absolutely is comfortable, and your safe state of mind, your physical physiological state is in absolutely 100% comfort. So the idea of memories of the beach, has many different dimensions. And all those dimensions happens to absolutely everybody. What happen is those memories are very intuitive. They are very spontaneous,

14:31 - but most importantly, they are, subconscious. They don't come to the surface translated either into the drawing or to criticize more into philosophy or thinking into reflection, right? So my work has, let's say, a little bit of this role to translate those memories and bringing significance, bringing meaning to those memories. So as artists, as architects, we can, be informed

15:00 - by them and find a way to transform architecture today, right? Also, the meat of the beach, even even for the ones that don't live by the ocean, even for the ones that don't have such a ingrained, powerful beach experience as I have, is always present, right? For me, the beach doesn't, the beach is not detached from the idea of the horizon. The beach is always connected to a large body of water and the end of the body of water.

15:37 - And in Canada, for example, the popular beach is a lake beach. It's not an ocean beach, but the lakes in Canada are so huge, and there are so many that it feels like we are in the ocean. That condition, describes always a horizon. And when we are contemplating the horizon, we are contemplating ourselves. We are contemplating, let's say the possibility

16:03 - of the human right, the imagination, the possibility of transformation, and therefore the possibility of a new civilization. And I think we are urging today, for their invention, right, with the big questions we have, if they are either political, environmental, economical, we have the responsibilities as architects to reinvent our civilization. And the beach, for me is one of the references, one of the promises to, to invite me

16:36 - to think about this new possibility for a new civilization. Phenomenology is a branch of, philosophy in which, attempts to understand reality, not simply from a rational, let's say from a intellectual point of view, but is wholesome, is holistic, especially in relationship to the perception of the body. So there is a strong tradition, especially in the western world, to rationalize, experience to towards rationalize experience,

17:20 - to, let's say, to some kind of logic. But experience cannot be simply translated to logic. That right phenomenology comes in to understand experience or the in increasing intrinsic and wholesome human experience as a whole. And that includes the body get, that includes our haptic system, that Includes our sight, our vision, that includes our sensations, our texture, that includes sensations.

17:58 - Like the smell includes notions of space, notions of comfort, how we feel at space, how we feel as, as a full, let's say being a complete being, having an architecture experience. Or in the case of the beach, have a, a whole understand simultaneous from all those, let's say, neurological, intellectual, emotional levels of perception that the body has. Starting from that, I, I started having, as well a phenomenological approach to understand the beach.

18:39 - That's why I have included poets, artists, musicians, and geographers economists in this kind of, we can say complex interdisciplinary, understand what the beach is. that led me to certain realizations that were really fundamental for me to understand how the experience of the beach can be translated into architecture. For example, every single beach is, predominantly formed

19:16 - by an extensive surface, right? Most of the time, a surface that's comfortable, a service made by scent, right? And in that surface, there is all kinds of phenomena that takes place. For example, in Rio, most people don't bring chairs to, to the beach one, because there are chairs that can be rented, but you can build your own chair out of the sand. So that relationship starts to create,

19:57 - phenomenological connection to the body as you shape the sand to take the shape of your own body in order to be there. also the, the phenomenon of the sand as being a material that change the moves, moves basically at the pace of the minute, right? Is, is, is kind of, it's flexible, it's light, is adaptable to the body. The body takes the shape of the sand, the sand takes the shape of the body, right?

20:31 - Creates a flexible, a flexible surface in which all kinds of human activities take place. Those activities don't repeat from day to day. They always change in a daily basis. In hourly basis, the space changes. So what we need is an architecture that has the character of change, an architecture that transforms itself to adapt to the human condition, to the needs of the human, especially the great needs we have in the urban centers, right?

21:09 - KU has says that we are, you know, our f is the city. We are going to the city. We are going to end up in the city, therefore, our life is the city, right? So when I think about a building, when I think about, an architecture, I think about the beach where the ground assumes the shape of all kinds of human conditions that is taking place, right? One example is the building that I'm talking from,

21:39 - which is the co building by empire in Sao Paulo. There's a very interesting, there's 5,000 people that live in the building. It's a very flexible building. The ground floor, I consider to be a beach scape, because the ground floor, instead of being a rigid flat ground, it takes the shape of the topography of the city. So the points in which people go into the beach or into the building, and the ground floor is also public,

22:10 - therefore is another beach scape is very flexible, and it's very adaptable to more than 70 different businesses that happen in the ground floor between cafes, restaurants, stores, salons, hair salons, and all kinds of services, right? So I think the coop building is a perfect example of beach scape and the translation. I made the connection here from phenomenology to architecture.

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