‘FOUNTAIN HACKS’

Modern modes of urban inhabitation have become increasingly functional over the last decades, and the ordinary city has taken on unprecedented levels of banality. The new generation of urbanites are getting frustrated by this and are calling for new forms of inhabitation: the city as a playground, the city as a place for artistic expression. Organized as a new public water circuit within the city of Guimarães, Fountain Hacks is a ready-made strategy of low cost playful interventions that will make the city a better place to live.

By leveraging the fact that our cities are full of every day spatial experiences that typically go unnoticed, we decided to call attention to these spaces with the simple addition of some everyday objects.  In this way we were able to transform these areas from forgotten spaces, into usable public domain, ultimately asking citizens to redefine their relationship to the city and question social stigmas that might interfere with new/old ways of urban occupation.

As guerrilla actions, our project does not have the pretension to last, but it has the power to change preconceived notions of spaces during its short lifetime. Our performance architecture is also about memories; it is about living in the moment and appreciating its uniqueness.

Technical Data

Authors:

LIKEarchitects + Ricardo Dourado

Location:

Guimarães, Portugal

Client:

Guimarães European Capital of Culture 2012

Date:

June – August 2012

Type:

Performance Architecture Competition 2012

1st prize

Photography:

Andreia Garcia ©

Dinis Sottomayor ©

Francisca Sottomayor ©