Il villaggio dei ragazzi di Canuanã. Un dialogo tra natura, cultura e immaginazione

The works by Brazilian architects Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes – mostly those projects related to the admirable philanthropic activity held by Bradesco Foundation – stand out for their ability to listen, to dialogue, even to empathize with the nature and culture of places; an ability based on a deep respect for the environmental and anthropological local values. This participative approach, learned from the collaboration with Marcelo Rosenbaum and Adriana Benguela, intends to promote conscious transformations, shared with the rural communities involved, also aimed at increasing their self-esteem, their autonomy – so their freedom – starting a process of emancipation focused on the recovery, development, re-appropriation of ancestral knowledges, traditions and skills, preserved and empirically handed down from the older generations. In particular, the new housings designed for the hundreds of children who attend Canuanã school-village are the result of a foray into the mixed culture of Javaé ethnic group, still the guardian of precious habits, rites and practices, expression of a perfect integration with the untouched and exuberant nature of Rio Javaés valley, but also with a centuries-old custom with the tropical climate, its torrential rains, its extreme temperatures. This project goes far beyond the specific conditions it wants to give a local and immediate response; it assumes the symbolic and universal value of a timeless architecture, capable of sublimating, through the “art of building”, the essential needs of man.