Jeroen Koolhaas 

PRAÇA CANTÃO

Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro 2010
  
Koolhaas:
“The third Favela Painting project took place in Zona Sul (South Zone). Here the favelas are built on the steep mountains in the central area of the city. A sharp contrast between formal and informal. The location was Praça Cantão in a neighbourhood called Santa Marta. The location consists of houses built around a public space with a circle drawn into the concrete, in the middle. The project required a relatively simple design as it involved painting over 34 houses, covering an area of 7000 square metres in a limited amount of time.” 

“We created a design based on a colour circle fanning out its colours from the centre of the square, covering the buildings in bright contrasting rays. The coloured lines run diagonally across the buildings, accentuating their organic positioning. The project involved training the local youths in painting and employed 25 locals to realise its completion within a month. The main objective was to create a huge piece of community art that serves as a catalyst for the improvement of housing and neighbourhoods. By empowering and bringing colour and joy to these people, we hoped to ignite personal and societal change on all levels.”