BACKSTAGE MANAGER(s)

In 2021 [along with my buddy Dominik Prosser] we were set the task of creating THE most memorable backstage of ALL time whilst being sustainable, local and capable of handling top tier artists.

We accepted the challenge with gusto and commissioned, designed, manufactured and delivered some incredible never-seen-before structures in Spain and Portugal.

During the Summer of 2022, we got to deliver it.

Designed by Langarita Navarro, Olimpo Nomade is a “mobile city” for the festival’s performing artists. It’s where musicians prepare before a show, relax, and hang out with their peers after a concert or show. It is a lightweight, collapsible, transportable “galactic” city.

Olimpo Nomade rolls out for the first time on the sands of Portimão Beach, Algarve, Portugal. A series of services meet the festival’s needs while creating important spaces and external rest and entertainment areas protected from the sun by palm trees and fishing nets.

Emerging in an “oasis” of sand and palm trees, a majestic complex contains a sprawling doughnut, bubble camp, and a reflective palace that disappears into its surroundings. ​The “bubble camp” functions as a locker room. Each powder room is composed of two bubbles of different sizes, one of which is a dressing room, and the other has a large skylight, a communal area shared by performers with friends and staff before going on stage.

The Doughnut is a living room; it is a continuous, white, edgeless, inflatable structure covering 500 sqm, composed of a yellow cylinder interlaced with triangular prisms that act as vents and Emergency passages and exits. Inside the structure is a tranquil courtyard planted with palm trees.

The “Palace of Reflections” provides three dressing rooms for performers. On a scaffolding structure of 9 x 9 x 9 meters, there is a perfectly mirrored cube with a 3 x 3 x 3-meter void on each side for private terraces and independent access.

On the roof, a blue-carpeted observation deck with reflective railings seems to soar above its surroundings, creating a singular and otherworldly image.

The project aims to provide the festival with a practical, lightweight, durable, collapsible infrastructure that can be stored and transported with a minimum of containers and retains its aesthetic identity for as long as possible without losing a sense of magical remembrance sex. Build a portable Olympus for contemporary gods.

Oh and then this happened.

Winner XVI Bienal Española de Arquitectura y Urbanismo

Selected Premios Arquitectura CSCAE 2022

Finalist A+ Award 2023

CHECK THIS VIDEO

ROLL CREDITS.

Project Name: Olimpo Nomade

Completion Year: 2022

Scale: Backstage for an itinerant music festival

Project Location: Portimao, Portugal

Landscape/Architecture Firm: Langarita Navarro

Lead Architects: María Langarita and Víctor Navarro

Design Team: Javier Estebala Alández, Antonio Antequera Reviriego and Fran Abellán Estevan.

Inflatable architecture: Espacio La Nube. Álvaro Gomis, Hugo Cifre, Miguel Ángel Maure.

Festivals: Afronation + Rolling Loud

Backstage Managers: Elliott Jack, Dominik Prosser, Raul Caldeira & Theodora Karakassi.

Install / Inflate / Operational Team: Roberto, André, Bruno, Cabral, Miguel, Igor, Janeta, Mauro, Ricardo, Hugo Morals, Luis Claudio, Andre Paulino de Oliveira, Gleison Barbosa Flor, Wallace Sousa, Mateus, João Figueirinha

Photo Credits: Luis Díaz Díaz