BEYOND THE SEA
FAV 2017 | festival des architectures vives
“All the country here is very dull. Where I lived before it was much less dull. In the evening I sewed sitting at the window. The window looked out on the sea and at times there was an island in the distance...Very often I stopped sewing; looked out at the sea and forgot about living.”
from “the Sailor”, Fernando Pessoa, 1913
The sea awakes in us emotions that are beyond words, like its vastness. It has always been the symbol of the limit and, at the same time, of its passing: the desire to go beyond, the desire of discover, the desire of moving forward up to that intangible horizon line. Since the Phoenicians ships crossed the sea, a lot of towers were built along the mediterranean coasts. The view of the sentinels was fixed on the horizon, in the anticipation of seeing a profile of an undesired boat.
Beyond the sea wants to offer another perspective, creating a space that isolates the citizen from the excitement of the urban context. Based on elementary shapes, the square-the circle-the triangle, these small towers are constructed out of simple steel profile. From that height of about two meters, people can spend some time with the sea. The imaginary viewer, after climbing the tower, will sit on it and will close his eyes for ten seconds...kids are building a sandcastle on the beach, an old lady with a big purple hut, who should take care of them, is trying to get a tan and her partner is reading the national newspaper; a bit further, boats are docked in the harbour, a row of small sail boats is starting a regatta; a gust of wind touchs lightly my face, bringing
with it the trace of the sea; in the background a cargo ship enters my view, but it is too bright, I can’t distinguish its colour; a golden path of light overlook bisects the view, I try to follow it as it reaches the horizon, and for a moment I forgot about living...
