Charlie Andral, a traveler and entrepreneur with a wild imagination, introduces us to an idyllic world, in the historic center of São Paulo. His project, Andar43, is a space where creativity, encounter and magic meet. Meets:
Charlie Andral, you have already traveled a lot and created this unusual place in São Paulo, can you explain to us your choice to come to Brazil?
I’m from Drum and I grew up at the foot of Vercors in the middle of a forest. The city has always appealed to me and I wanted to get away from the countryside as quickly as possible. But in urban areas, I always missed places with a panoramic view, like the presence of nature; Maybe that’s why I’m so obsessed with high positions, finding vantage points that fascinate me. I chose to come to São Paulo because it is the largest city in the southern hemisphere and it is a Latin city. I did not want to live in a country where the English language prevails.
The cosmopolitan aspect of São Paulo is arousing great interest. Its social and architectural contrast, its intense nightlife.
Indeed, there is a very special energy in this city, which one rarely finds, in my opinion, anywhere else in the world. Since I don’t like rest very much, things are very comfortable, and São Paulo is perfect, I was starting a new challenge, because I didn’t know anyone, didn’t speak Portuguese, and without a job, to build everything from scratch.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and give us your perspective on life abroad?
I have always loved being a foreigner, I had not lived in France for a decade. I find that living abroad is refreshing, because you have an extra curiosity that you might not have in your own country, and at the same time, other people are curious. It is quite stimulating to develop activities that allow exchange and exploration. I think being outside your social molasses allows you more freedom in your actions. Moreover, when she works in cultural productions, events, she is a real asset.
I spent a year for the first time in Uruguay, when I was a student. Then I worked for 10 years in the corporate world, at the French Embassy in Tunisia for two and a half years, right after the Arab Spring. After this experience, I continued to work at the African Development Bank, within the framework of Corporate Communication. But my favorite hobby is the organization of cultural events, especially parties, often disguised, in unusual places, with performances; Parties that tell stories, for which I create a story built out of place.
Therefore, my arrival in São Paulo was motivated by the idea of continuing and expanding this project in events, in order to provide spaces in which people could meet and exchange, whatever their origin. I like to improvise depending on where the wind takes me.
And the wind carried you to the 43rd floor of an emblematic building in São Paulo, can you tell us the story of Andar43?
When I arrived in São Paulo, I began to explore the city, reading articles about the city, because I was looking for inspiring places, with the aim of organizing unusual events and parties. Meanwhile, I participated in Poulst memory inventory, “Inventário da memória paulistana” in Portuguese, an operation launched by the Prefecture and Secretariat of Culture of São Paulo, with the aim of telling the story of places of interest in the city, by placing an information board. By contributing to this study, I discovered this building and began to take an interest in it.
It is an iconic building for the big city, although considered very ugly by the majority of the population. It has something disturbing, in terms of its mass, proportions, and location, because it completely encloses the Anhangabaú Valley. I was surprised to find that this building looks like the Tower of Babel, while in Brazil there are many things in their chest; Residential units, offices, homes, each divided geographically. In this building, it’s a fizz, there are Chinese merchants from Santa Iphigenia Boulevard with stockpiled products stacked in boxes, luxury Airbnbs, Sampa Sky, a tourist attraction or even apartments.
Entering this extraordinary building is a way to integrate into a very lively process of transformation in São Paulo. The building, built in the 60s and 70s, was a symbol of the financial strength of São Paulo, which is constantly migrating, after Paulista Avenue, in the Faria Lima region.
It is a symbol of the Paulistas’ arrogance, their desire to build taller and more efficient buildings than ever before, and to bring more people together.
The disturbing elements of this building attract me a lot, and in fact, the building has completely deviated from its initial message over time. Andar43 غرفة room He participates in this movement, by bringing a “slightly hazy”, but also poetic aspect, into a very square, bureaucratic universe. (L’hubris is a Greek notion often translated as “appendage” – editor’s note).
Andar43: A blank page is constantly being written
The project could have been called the 43rd floor, but in Portuguese, it gives “quadragésimo terceiro” which is particularly unpredictable. Indeed, I had many paths, about vision, transformation, but to simply call this space by the name of the floor, it allows to give a name, perhaps more hollow, but also more fluid. It’s like a big box in which you can fit personal inspiration, but also different activities.
It is a space that I rent, where activities are presented. We take people to sleep, organize gastronomic events, it’s a bit like a blank sheet of paper. When I managed to get this space back, in 2020, the room was completely empty, there was no water, no kitchen, no bathroom.
It’s a bit like going to an art gallery where there is the idea of the perfect white cube where everything can be displayed, in a neutral environment.
So I decided not to build anything solid, to maintain maximum modularity, to have a space that evolves according to inspiration and suggestions. Today there are more than a hundred plants from the Atlantic Forest, “Mata Atlantica” in Portuguese.
“Mata Atlantica” in the center of the police city
The idea is that the room develops over time, receiving temporary projects. The first project was the installation of a trapeze triangle, designed by Thiago Bellucci, an architect and anthropologist, who specializes in local habitats. The hammocks installed in a triangle facing the giant city, in the middle of a completely empty room, it is symbolically very powerful and people have come to sleep and have a picnic. Since there was no light, they would either bring their candle or make do with the city lights. After this event, which had so many repercussions, I told myself that from the moment the camp disintegrated, nature regains its rights. There was the pandemic, a period of great uncertainty about the future of the world, with a post-apocalyptic perspective where the jungle reclaims abandoned cities. In agreement with more optimistic notes, I thought of bringing nature into the city, as with the communal gardens.
Today in Andar43 there are more than 100 plants from the Atlantic forests. The idea was to bring nature back into this space and restore nature to the room, which was a former office.
The selection of plants came later. Knowing that in Brazil there is the “vera lata” syndrome; We are interested in everything that comes from abroad, from the USA or Europe, including landscapes where many ornamental plants come from outside the country. Just like the agricultural sector in Brazil which mainly grows exotic species. For me it was important to strengthen the “Mata Atlantica”, especially since only 7% of it remains compared to its initial surface, which covered a large part of the São Paulo area.
Airbnb, a private party and activity for kids
Airbnb came from a very concrete need. With the pandemic, it is no longer possible to organize events. Then I thought this space could accommodate people. Since the bed is retractable, people who come for social activities do not even realize that there is such a sleeping option. It is a room that cannot be visited in itself, what seems to me the most important is that people have a fairly long experience of the materiality of the room. When they spend a night in Andar43 and wake up with the sunrise, feeling a really special atmosphere with plants, it can have a transformative effect for people who are not familiar with plants.
In terms of the proposed activities, they are likely to be infinite, because “Mata Atlantica” and the environmental issue can be part of the artistic, creative, performance and culinary fields. In this regard, I organized evenings with cocktails specially prepared for Andar43 by a tender tavern, using fruits from “mata atlântica”; pitanguá, araça, cambuci, and a seed called jatobá, are widely used in indigenous medicine.
Through the workshops for children, I am convinced that we can change their perspective, especially the children who do not have the opportunity to leave their homes, the disadvantaged children in the center of São Paulo, who do not have access to nature. I give them a little bubble of hair in their daily life. Concretely, during the workshops, they will observe the plants, make their own paint from plant extracts, and then paint the plants in the room, as if they are observing travelers in front of an unknown nature.
I also rent out space to companies for meetings, corporate events, lunches and parties, such as birthdays. It’s as if we had crop rotation, agroforestry, and activities mixed in the same 70 square meter area.
In fact, everyone has their own view of the place, depending on how they heard about it. Those who come to sleep in Andar43 do not necessarily know that there are also events, and vice versa. In the end, even I don’t really know how to define this place.
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