The Garden of Framed Scenes / The Open Workshop

Rayen Sagredo

7 years ago

Architects: The Open Workshop
Location: Fontelo Park, 3500 Viseu, Portugal
Design Team: Neeraj Bhatia, Jared Clifton, Shawn Komlos, Haifa Al-Gwaiz
Client: Poldra Project/ City of Viseu
Area: 700.0 ft2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Luis Belo

Text description provided by the architects. The Garden of Framed Scenes expands the notion of pubic art and sculpture to create a space for the inhabitants of the city. It is situated at an infrastructural crossroads within Fontelo Park—transforming a space of flows into a space of gathering. The outer geometry of the triangle emerges from the site’s paths, while the internal square geometry frames a theatre for collective performance. Inspired by local Renaissance painter Grao Vasco’s technique of framing and collapsing the background environment into the collective scene of the foreground, the project uses a series of framed openings to recontextualize the surrounding environment. Within the piece, foreground and background are collapsed yet framed, while the position of audience and performer is also oscillating.