Boxing Boxes stays in Olaias
This Associated Project was supposed to be temporary, but they fought (not literally) to keep it. Boxing Boxes is not only a gymnasium but also a public space installation that has chosen Portugal Novo neighbourhood, local on the oriental side of Lisbon. The Mexican architect Daniel De León Languré was the protagonist of this tool to ignite social cohesion of the community of Olaias, a marginalised area of Lisbon, creating an open-air gymnasium, a gesture that quickly involved local agents and inhabitants.
The result of three years of research, the project comes from the attempt to place architecture at the confluence of the local boxing tradition as a possible response to the scarcity of recreational infrastructure and the need to provide new points of view in combating social disintegration. From Mexico to Portugal, the architect brought a new sports scheme that looks at boxing as a valuable tool for spatial and civic activation for all ages, where users can find a balance between pleasure and restriction, the individual and collective sphere, urban stress and playful human nature.
Sofia Costa Pinto from the association EDA (Ensaios e Diálogos), who has been involved in social and urban intervention projects in the last six years in Margem Sul, the other side of the Tagus River, and António Brito Guterres, researcher in urban studies and collaborative territories at ISCTE, both helped in its implementation. Built in 1980, Portugal Novo neighbourhood was the chosen location, due to the evident needs related with the cohesion of the local citizens with a multicultural character such as the gypsy, African and Indian. The reason to select Boxing Boxes for Triennale 2019 is its focus: the creation of a space that enhances the interaction to a potential legacy for the city and its activation through the norms of society.
Interviewed by the portuguese daily newspaper Público, Daniel De León Languré stated that he “wanted to meet the people. There are conflicts, addiction problems, unemployment. This project will not solve this” but the ambition is to break down barriers, inside and outside the neighborhood. “It’s the locals who choose the way they appropriate the infrastructure and the space: if they will maintain it, they improve or modify it. For the researcher António Brito Guterres, the proposed structure is “an experimental experience that can draw attention to the neighbourhood and open possibilities for future interventions in the public space”.
Inaugurated on 4 October 2019 and scheduled to close on the 12th, the project prompted a common effort by bringing together the newly formed Association of Citizens of the Bairro Novo neighbourhood, with Arminda Lima as vice-chairman, and the community that got involved with the project. Together they are fighting for: for the non-temporary nature of this form of coexistence as it provides a development of stronger local cultural ties, because, as the daily reports “To educate a child it is necessary to involve the school, the parents and also the public space”.