Of.Shore

Of.Shore are dialectical structures integrating the pragmatic and subjective of the territory of Guanabara Bay, based on an integrated cartography comprising the natural, the official and the unofficial dynamics of its territory.

According to Brazil's National Politics for Hydric Resources, "I - water is a public domain good [...]; IV - The management of water resources should always allow for its multiple uses." Henceforth, water is akin to a public space. Of. Shore is a proposal to ensure that the waters of Guanabara Bay, the center of Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan area, allow for uses consistent with its public status. While the worldwide known beaches of Rio are fully functional public spaces, the Bay is stigma to its inhabitants. Over the years, the increasing value of land over water strangled natural water flow with embankments. Fast-paced informal urbanization along the coast led to irregular sewage disposal which, with hindered water flow, led to dirty and smelly waterfronts. The once crowded beaches are now improper for bathing. Fishermen, the last surviving resistance, are pressured by restricting zoning imposed by harbor activities and oil industries. Guanabara Bay is the object of territorial disputes. The pragmatic and the subjective are thesis and antithesis with no synthesis. The designed structures lay on the unstable grounds between sculpture and architecture to bridge this dialectical gap.\nAREA OF INTEREST 1 - THE NURSERIES Traditional fishing spots, usually near natural nurseries, are more and more engulfed by prohibitions. The Nurseries are floating structures set adrift near those spots with a loose anchoring system, floating between the allowed and the forbidden. They become markers for those fishermen who chose to resist.\nAREA OF INTEREST 2 - THE BRIDGE WHARF The central span of the Rio-Niteroi bridge - the biggest infrastructure in the Bay area - is the platform for this structure. A policy already applied in other highways in Rio closes lanes for pedestrian use on weekends. On the water, a floating dock gives access to one of the remaining spots with clean water in the Bay. There, users come into contact with those fishermen who had to become impromptu tourist guides due to economic pressure, making the whole structure functions as an intermodal hub.