Few brazilian cities have a healthy and respectful relationship with their rivers: piracicaba is one of them. the piracicaba river slithers across the center of town with multiple free, public areas on its margins. these spaces work as recesses and they allow for the possibility of developing an exemplary intervention to affect lives and the general urban comfort. all of this is, partly, due to historical or contingent factors. such is the case of the central mill, an old sugar and alcohol industry building located near the banks of the river. it was deactivated in the 1970s and received the title of municipal and state historical heritage. later, it was expropriated by the government and it became a part of the local inhabitants’ life as an important culture and leisure center.
the central mill sits on the right banks of the piracicaba river, very close to the urban center of town. its buildings of red exposed brick offer an impressive view for passersby walking along the other side of the river. the running waters, after a series of rafters, return to a calmer nature and mirror the lights coming from the mill: a singular scenery of urban landscape.
the ensemble maintains the integrity it had when it was deactivated, resisting the great changes that came about its surroundings. however, the mill was not constructed as it is now. during its lifetime, it was subjected to several additions, renovations, demolitions, at various times. in the process, beautiful things were lost and others were incorporated to give form to what perhaps constitutes its best feature: the citadel.
the central mill ensemble is one of the largest and most important architectural evidences of the means of production of sugar and alcohol that were at work from mid-19th century until mid-20th century. very little of its machinery was left, but the numberless and varied structures are there. and the most important aspect of this legacy is precisely the relation it is stablished among these various structures, which help us unravel the logic of production and its transformation throughout the hundred-year life span of the mill, an artefact of industrial urbanism. the entire structure of the mill is composed of industrial warehouses and several other buildings in varied scales, almost all of them in exposed brick – a universal language of industry in the 19th century.
in 2002, together with a group of collaborators from piracicaba, we developed a master plan for the entire area of the central mill. this plan was intended to set the course and guide future interventions that were made there. in one of the oldest and most beautiful of all the warehouses, we designed the erotides de campos theater (teatro do engenho central). the theater is constituted by an architectural gesture that starts from the interior of the building and transforms its hollows into several devices: a public hall, acoustically equipped rooms, audience, stage, galleries, a bar/restaurant, rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms, and technical support rooms. that is, everything that a contemporary theater requires to function to its fullest.
the theater features an expanded stage with the possibility of opening a second view for the audience, since the arena also opens out onto the central plaza – the heart of the entire ensemble. it constitutes an important promotion and support device, especially for outdoor celebrations and events. the result is a contemporary multipurpose venue that is also invested in the history of the place. yes, the old warehouse served as storage for giant casks and an alcohol distillery. this memory is impressed in the industrial dimensions of its roof height, in the great central gap, and in the materials employed in the construction – brick, clay roof tiles, beams of steel and concrete. all of it makes a great impression on the visitor and leads us to reflect upon these human artifacts built long ago. in this case, an ancient working site of arduous labor, the suffering of many, but a testimony of human toil that was transformed into a factory of entertainment, creation, celebration, and coexistence, without erasing its early life. Text description by the architects.
