Ana Catarina Silva – Corumbau
Ana Catarina Silva is a creator of new worlds. She enjoys investigating, designing and recreating them more than simply discovering them. She has invented a paradise in a sheltered, almost secret, part of Brazil for others to share, smell and touch. She has called it Tauana.
—
Ana Catarina Silva had just turned 30 and was looking for somewhere away from it all. Even though she still didn’t know exactly what she was after, she knew she wanted to leave Portugal. Her first passion was Africa, and it was the possibility of Africa that she found when she got to Brazil. She felt this even more strongly in Bahia. It was in the smells, the similar sense of vastness, and the art of building houses from the natural resources of the land. As an architect who hadn’t yet designed and carried out a project of her own, she realised that it was there that she would be able to fulfil her desire to do so. And at the same time, why not make viable her ambition to live her life away (or almost away) from it all?
Her search began in 2001. She got in a car with her mum and slowly headed towards Recife, often leaving the tarmac and stopping along the way. But she didn’t find anything that matched her dreams or bank account. She returned to Portugal, spent time there and then went back to Brazil, and travelled all over Ceará and Maranhão. The interior almost won her over, but it wasn’t quite the right time or place yet. Until, finally in 2003, Ana Catarina Ferreira da Silva became the proud owner of a farm in Corumbau. Riacho Grande farm is a 23-hectare beachfront site, with views of Monte Pascoal. It is four kilometres from Barra do Caí, where Cabral’s caravel is said to have dropped anchor (Rio dos Frades, south of Trancoso, is another possible location). It was there that she decided to build her small but exclusive hotel.
[DDET READ MORE]
Ana Catarina Silva had absolutely no experience in the hotel business, but that didn’t put her off. “Nine bungalows are like one big house”. And indeed, she created a house that reflected who she was; the sort of place she would want to spend holidays in forever. No TVs or swimming pool, and away from it all. Her primary concern was to leave the site’s natural beauty, as far as possible, untouched. Her objective was a low-impact project that made use of local materials, techniques and people, and which would be recognised in terms of its architectural merit. And that it certainly was, in reviews by Wallpaper, Vogue Casa and the New York Times. Ana Catarina has always been interested in architectural solutions that have been passed down from generation to generation and are adapted to the climate and culture of different regions. “Vernacular architecture fascinates me. It’s very rich, has lots of interesting solutions and enormous creativity – a bit like the popular art, actually”. In Corumbau she researched native building techniques and insisted on using local materials, but steered clear of the rustic, typical and picturesque. “I always wanted a sense of contemporaneity to shine through” The workers’ villa, (known as “o Quadrado” by everyone), the building closest to the mudflats, was the first to be finished. Then came the office, support buildings, bungalows and the lounge. The cutlery arrived almost at the same time as the first group of visitors, who were friends, but received guest-like treatment nonetheless. It was the most stressful moment in the year and a half that it took to complete the building works. That, and discovering that brass screws (vital in an oceanfront location where rust is a major issue) weren’t locally available and had to come from São Paulo.
Taking care of time
Tauana was officially opened in September 2006. It has nine bungalows built of wood and adobe (clay and sand), with piassava palm roofs. The walls open and close like a puzzle and can either be used as windows or for ventilation purposes, to let in the late afternoon breeze. The windows afford stunning views of the sea, the moon and the coconut trees. The houses breathe like a body. Inside, the linen on the Portuguese bedspreads seems to light up the centre of the bedrooms. The tulle mosquito net, a white canopy that creates an island in the middle of the house, has a similar effect. Ana Catarina took care of the interior decoration, and the furniture is striking in its sophisticated simplicity.
Designing a hotel is more than building a house; it’s building a shared experience using textures and materials. And from the outset, Ana Catarina wanted to offer her city-dwelling, urbane and well-travelled guests something radically different. “Not only the landscape and the privacy, but also the possibility of staying in accommodation made of clay, wood and straw, under that dazzling moon.” Other sensations include smelling the scents of the land and vegetation, which permeate the buildings, or listening to the sounds of the waves beyond your headboard. There is also the taste of cassava in all its variations, or being able to sip coconut milk brought to you on the beach shore, just in time to cool you down after a walk on the sand. Guests can also marvel at the different textures of wood around them or enjoy the changing gradations in natural light. There are countless opportunities to stimulate all the senses.
Tauana is an indigenous word that means “taking care of time”. Guests arrive from all over the world, and are very different, but similar in purchasing power and purpose: to relax and get away from it all. There are plenty of outdoor activities such as river boat rides, diving in the sea, exploring the coral reef, whale watching in summer and cycling for as long as you can on a beach that stretches to infinity.
Ana Catarina says that the philosophy of the hotel is the art of doing nothing. However, she doesn’t practise it much. She is highly observant, and the natural wonders of this place certainly dazzle all those who are ready to take in everything on offer, such as the splendid moons, the sight of a deer, or the play of cloud shadows on the sea. Ana Catarina rides her bike when the tide is out and finds time to read books from the library she has set up in the lounge, next to the images of St. Francis that she collects. The hotel was her first solo project. Constructing it was her way of testing herself and overcoming her fear of failure. “A house offers protection. It defends you from the weather and the world outside.” She doesn’t live in solitude. She’s made strong friendships amongst her neighbours and has a good relationship with the local community. Currently she is interviewing the caciques (heads) of the native villages in order to find out about the origins of their traditions, and which of them have truly been passed down from the communities’ ancestors. Perhaps one day she’ll make a documentary. She might also return home. “I think the distinction between house and home in English is very interesting. I don’t think the word lar (the Portuguese word for home) works as well. I feel at home in Brazil, but in fact Portugal is home”.
[/DDET]
By Maria João Guardão
—
