Floating is one of mankind's oldest ways of living and moving strategy. This ancestral practice today is of great interest due to the more frequent floods due to the Climate Change.

The inhabitants of Amazon rainforest float for centuries with different techniques. Studying the architectural solutions of local communities and using contemporary materials technology, the co-directors of the Architectural Association Visiting School Amazon, the architects Marko Brajovic and Nacho Martí organized an international workshop to experiment with the theme of floating architecture. Participants had to learn about the lifestyle of Mamori Lake communities, learn nature-based buoyancy techniques, and materials technologies by integrating this knowledge into the construction of an experimental platform.

"Folies Tropicales" presents itself as a prototype of floating architecture, a multifunctional space to be an ephemeral habitat, a classroom, a space for celebration and ceremony, a fundamental need for typological, technological, functional and esthetic / ethical experimentation.

Floating is a state of the soul and in this dimension, "Folies Tropicales" presents itself as an observatory from which to understand the external and internal world, always more subject to massive changes.

Commissioned by: Architectual Association Visiting School Amazon

Format: Floating Architecture

Job description: Project and Construcion Direction

Project team

Authors: Marko Brajovic + Nacho Martí

Institutional Support: Architectual Association Visiting School Amazon

Project and Construction Team: Sonia Syed, Andreia Bento, Marcele Lauande, Maria Elena Salas, Mehek Merchant, Mila Montezuma, Carlos Duarte, Vian Rasool

Partner: Ecofloat (Amanda Pamato, Adi Neto e Eduardo Amaro)

Special Thanks to: What Design Can Do, Comunidade lago Mamori, Korokoró