Instead of walls, transparency: Muxarabi's intervention redesigns the arrival at CASACOR São Paulo 2026 traduzido por: OPENROUTER

Delimiting an open-air exhibition involves issues of safety, public access, and also aesthetics. When it takes place in a listed public area, the challenges only grow. "We find a much greater number of negatives than possibilities," says architect José Luiz Favaro, who, together with Yuri Matsui Ramos, was invited by the curatorship of CASACOR to resolve the perimeter enclosure of the 2026 São Paulo edition. The answer came in partnership with Muxarabi, supplier of the carbon steel sheets used in the Galeria Muxarabi project.

The ephemeral installation, 400 m long and made with materials resistant to sun and rain, went through several approvals, especially those of the municipal and state historical heritage agencies (Conpresp and Condephaat, respectively).

Metal lace

Favaro Arquitetos - Galeria Muxarabi. Projeto da CASACOR São Paulo 2026. (Bia Nauiack/CASACOR)

The design, which aims to "enable a reading of the sensorial, of the intangible," as José Luiz explains, uses 52 laser-cut carbon steel sheets, model MXB 1079, from the Aurora Tropical line, 1.50 m high and 3 m wide.

They are self-supporting – to stand upright, they only need to be installed in a zigzag pattern and fixed onto 20-cm-high concrete footings (which meet the requirement of merely overlapping the floor).

In addition to this enclosure, the architects planned an entrance gallery nearly 20 m long, covered and slightly labyrinthine, assembled with the same mashrabiyas. The arrangement ensures plays of light and shadow in a portico that transitions between the idyllic area of the Park and the exhibition space. "With this intervention, we propose the time of time, of looking, of perceiving the different layers, nature, the constructions. We worked the volumetry to cause surprise," José Luiz continues. In the words of CASACOR's director of operations, Darlan Firmato, "when visitors arrive at the gallery, they enter another universe. They slow down to savor what lies ahead."

Favaro Arquitetos - Galeria Muxarabi. Projeto da CASACOR São Paulo 2026. (Bia Nauiack/CASACOR)

The pattern of the panels was selected from the supplier's catalog options for responding well to a decisive technical criterion: "The more open the plate, the more permeable to wind it is, which for us is positive, and not only because of the air circulation and visibility it allows," says José Luiz. According to him, a more closed sheet would create more resistance to gusts and, as a result, could require larger footings. As the finishing color, corten prevailed, harmonizing with the surroundings.

Respectful boundaries

The enclosure required other solutions, sometimes to cover up points without visual interest, sometimes to follow the topography. The sections corresponding to technical and service areas feature scenographic wooden panels, covered with fabric in a tone reminiscent of corten steel. Where the ground is more irregular, self-supporting railings can be seen – easily adaptable to the unevenness – with perforated tarp. Once the event is over, the former will be reused or sent for recycling, with the fabric donated to NGOs. The rented railings return to the supplier for reuse, and the metal panels are returned to the manufacturer for commercialization.

Favaro Arquitetos - Galeria Muxarabi. Sem encobrir os edifícios históricos – conforme exigido pelos órgãos de proteção ao patrimônio – nem isolar a CASACOR do contexto do Parque da Água Branca, a cenografia com painéis metálicos vazados abraça delicadamente os 400 m de perímetro da mostra. Além desse invólucro, os arquitetos planejaram uma galeria de entrada com quase 20 m de comprimento, co­berta e levemente labiríntica, montada com os mesmos muxarabis. A dispo­sição garante jogos de luz e sombra em um pórtico que faz a transição entre a área idílica do Parque e o es­paço expositivo. Autoportantes por terem sido instaladas em zigue-zague, as chapas estão fixadas em sa­patas de concreto com 20 cm de altura (as quais atendem à prerrogativa de apenas se sobrepor ao piso). (Bia Nauiack/CASACOR)

“This year, this enclosure is lower, at 1.70 m high, and therefore more inviting. Park visitors can observe everything through the muxarabis and, in the case of the taller ones, even over them”, highlights Darlan, recalling that the gardens and some projects on the ground floor are open to free visitation. “The intention is much more to bring people closer than to segregate”, concludes José Luiz.

traduzido por: OPENROUTER