MIDSUMMER MOURAMA, WAKING LIFE FESTIVAL
The Midsummer Mourama was a project we developed alongside Cella Collective and La Cuarta Piel for Waking Life Festival in Portugal. It was inspired by Celtic folklore around the moura. The moura are enchanted beings that occupy liminal spaces and frontiers. They are said to appear at midsummer and bring luck to those passing through in-between states.
These lakeside moura dwellings were designed as sheltered places for bathing and reflecting at the waters edge during the midsummer evenings of the festival. Following the festival, the installations were stripped back to the frame and pontoon: the lake is a public park all year round and the pontoons remain as permanent features used for fishing and swimming.
The structural design of the installations was driven by three key constraints:
- The structures were to be built by a group of amateur builders and makers: ourselves, Cella Collective architects and friends we convinced to lend a hand! The detailing needed to be simple to understand, easy to assemble and we needed a plan to get the whole thing into place by hand.
- The budget was very limited, and the materials available from a shopping list: standard sizes and lengths as well as limited components such as bolts and screws.
- The structure had to be festival-proof: people climbing, jumping, swinging from the installation, all had to be designed for.
The structure we developed was a series of "A"-Frames designed for prefabrication that could be easily lifted onto the pontoon on the water. In collaboration with Cella, we developed a form that embodied the moura folklore, was optimised for cost, easy to put together and worked with the cladding, decking and facade details. Although simple and efficient, the structure was designed for all eventualities....people climbing and hanging, lifting themselves out of the water, high winds on an exposed lakeside....
A simple logic of single, double and triple members combined with spacers allowed all the elements of each A-Frame to be fastened with single bolts and slotted onto the supporting beams. The single/double/triple logic meant frames could be slotted into place and then sit temporarily whilst they were fixed to the pontoon with bolts. Because we were also responsible for the construction, we took care to zoom into every detail including fixing the floor decking, connecting the cladding system and fabric panels.
The result of this careful design process was that the structures were erected in just one day, to the surprise of the rest of the seasoned festival build crew!
Public House also collaborated with Miranda Hill and Taller M to design and make two art pieces inspired by botijo water vessels and the chrysalis, another dwelling and transitional body.
And on site, we worked with the rest of our team of makers to develop site-specific solutions to the cladding and facades, including clay & mud panels and bamboo woven facade panels.
The care and attention we put into the collaborative design process resulted in a smooth festival build and an attention to the craft and the details of the finished installation. When the moura did finally emerge along the lakeside on Midsummer Eve, our two lakeside dwellings sat quietly and invited festival goers to enjoy these enchanted spaces.
BENCH FOR THE ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON
BAMBOO DINING TABLE
PERIOD EXTENSION, GUILDFORD
MUSLIM ACADEMY
FEATURE STAIR AND BALUSTRADE
BELSIZE PARK
PHILBEACH GARDENS
CLERKENWELL HISTORIC HOUSES
BESPOKE STEEL TERRACE
STONE PAVILION