SURGICAL ACUPUNCTURES: A CASE STUDY IN SAO PAULO by Helena Rong
I am a thesis..!
Cornell University B.Arch Candidate Thesis May 2017 Advisors: Andrea Lee Simitch Julian Palacio Š 2017 all rights reserved.
Surgical Acupunctures: A Case Study in São Paulo
Helena Rong
many many thanks to: the best parents XHL+JQR
for your unconditional love and a lot of monetary investments
for your wisdom, guidance, knowledge and trust
for your endless support, hardwork, delicate craft and latenight laughs
the best advisors Andrea Simitch+Julian Palacio
the best thesis babies Ihwa Choi+Demi Chang+Jing Wang the best travel buddy Kailin Jennifer Jones
for our memorable adventures in Brazil and bold explorations 炊事班小钱 JWQ for your patience and support, provision of delicious bone soup and ramen
my friends and classmates esp JJ+JC+ZYC+DZ+ER+RK+EY+VP+CLZ+SX
for all the help, crits, conversations, advice, comfort, companionship
this thesis happened because of you. :)
Infinitegratitude:
Muito obrigado!
A tale told in SĂŁo Paulo downtown
C o n t e n t s :
i ........................................................................................................................................................... 00_ Abstract
RESEARCH
01 .................................................................................................................................................. 01_Introduction 21 .......................................................................................................................................... 02_Building Vacancy 31............................................................................................................................................. 03_ Current Trends
DESIGN
41 ................................................................................................................................................. 04_Site Survey 49 ............................................................................................................................................ 05_Design Proposal 67 ..................................................................................................................................... 06_New City Manifesto
REVIEW
115 .....................................................................................................................................07_Final Thesis Review
BIBLIOGRAPHY
139 ................................................................................................................................................... 08_Work Cited
i
00.
abstract
São Paulo’s rapid urban sprawl
iii
abstract
São Paulo is a local metropolis in a global world characterized by continuous fluctuations
and constant reconstruction through “a painful process of historical negation,” a territorial and polynucleated palimpsest where the new overrides the already existing in a tireless manner.1 Such cycles of renewal and rebuilding propitiated the expansion of the city from a small, modest Jesuit mission to the second largest metropolis in the world with a population of around 20 million.2 Yet the absence of historical traces of the past sets up a scenario of premature aging described by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss as “[passing] from freshness to decay without simply being old.” 3 However, it is not only the physical appearance of the city that is in constant flux, but also its social composition. The urban development of São Paulo is thus tangled in an unresolved paradox: while the metropolis continues to sprawl uncontrollably onto non-structured peripheral lands through informal settlements, the built historical center undergoes severe degradation and is left with an overabundance of infrastructure and underutilized buildings awaiting reimagination.
Rio, Vincente Del, and William J. Siembieda. Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. 248. United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision, 11. 3 Andreoli, Elisabetta, and Adrian Forty. Brazil’s Modern Architecture. London: Phaidon, 2004.12.
1
2
v
abstract
Is it possible to perform surgical operations on these abandoned structures to create a city
not based on prescriptive zoning and programming, but rather resilient structures in constant flux that adapts to the needs of its citizens and one that invites customization and participation? This thesis expresses critical reflections regarding preservations, reuse and restorations involving the transformation of architectural and urban sites in the historical downtown of SĂŁo Paulo, and proposes for a new city manifesto that employs adaptive reuse as an opportunity to initiate a bottom-up, participatory development of the urban context.
key words: sĂŁo paulo downtown | building vacancy | obsolescence | reoccupation| bottom-up urbanism | adaptive reuse | city manifesto | urban design
01
research
01.
introduction
01.1. Brazilian modern architectural heritage and cultural attitudes 01.2. Historical overview and urban development of SĂŁo Paulo 01.3. Research questions
03
Iconic Modernist Brazil: design of Brasilia by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, 1957.
research|introduction
01.1 Brazilian modern architectural heritage and cultural attitudes The robustness and immense international influence of
Brazilian architecture designed and built between 1920s to 1970s distinguishes Brazilian modernism from its European ancestor. Described as “both Brazilian and universal” by Lauro Cavalcanti in his book When Brazil Was Modern, Brazilian modernist architectural heritage is a summation of the country’s economic might and prosperity at the time and the prolific contribution of a “brilliant generation of architects and intellectuals with ties to the cultural apparatus of the state, [which] transformed the style into a new language.” 4 The modernists exerted their voice and dominance by undertaking control of the Portuguese architectural legacy of the past and by directing design of public housing and planning of the burgeoning urban centers in Brazil, providing functional solutions to social problems in addition to inventing superior architectural languages and forms.
4 Cavalcanti, Lauro, When Brazil Was Modern: Guide to Architecture, 1928-1960. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. 13.
They said I cannot be obsolete.
05
Graffiti reflects a building’s shameful status of being old.
research|introduction
The heroic inheritance of
this period produced a unique cultural attitude towards architecture and the concept of newness– there can be no such thing as “new Brazilian architecture” because all Brazilian architecture since 1936 is “new.” 5 Categorizing works post this period automatically shoves the triumphant eras of 1940’s and 50’s into the chasm of obsolescence and “oldness” since oldness is not distinguished from derelict or obsolete. Such attitude is a double-edged sword: while buildings designed by famed masters rest in everlasting newness and celebration, works born out of more humble and anonymous roots tumble into deterioration by default.
5
Andreoli, Elisabetta, and Adrian Forty. Brazil’s Modern Architecture. London: Phaidon, 2004.14.
The Jesuits first settled in the Historic Triangle in 1554.
07
“Some mischievous spirit has defined America as a country which has moved from barbarism to decadence without enjoying any intermediary phase of civilization. The formula could be more correctly applied to the towns of the New World, which pass from freshness to decay without even simply being old. “ -anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Tristes Tropiques. (New York: Atheneum, 1974), 95.
research|introduction
01.2 Historical overview and urban development of São Paulo In the case of São Paulo, the city is a local metropolis in a global world characterized
by continuous fluctuations and constant reconstruction through “a painful process of historical negation,” a territorial and polynucleated palimpsest where the new overrides the already existing in a tireless manner. 6 Such cycles of renewal and rebuilding propitiated the expansion of the city from a small, modest Jesuit mission to the second largest metropolis in the world with a population of around 20 million. 7
6 7
Rio, Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia, 248. United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2001 Revision, 11.
09
The historical development of Sao Paulo through different time periods: goldmining - agriculture - imperial - urbanization - new republic and industrialization - modernist period
research|introduction
The absence of traces of
the past sets up a scenario of premature aging described by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss as “[passing] from freshness to decay without simply being old.” 8 However, it is not only the physical appearance of the city that is in constant flux, but also its social and racial composition. Up until recently, the accelerated growth in population in São Paulo establishes a centrifugal implosion, as the city takes up more and more land, it occupies it at lower and lower densities. 9
8 9
Andreoli, Brazil’s Modern Architecture, 12. Andreoli, Brazil’s Modern Architecture, 132.
11
H
Education Level
L
research|introduction
The urban development
of São Paulo is thus entangled in an unresolved paradox: while the metropolis continues to sprawl uncontrollably onto non-structured peripheral lands through informal settlements, the built historical center undergoes severe degradation and is left with an overabundance of infrastructure and underutilized buildings awaiting reimagination. This process of simultaneous growth and contraction engenders vicious cycles of migration of people to favelas and relocation of businesses and commerce from downtown areas to new districts far removed from the city center. Within the urban context, the relentless process of verticalization requires a re-examination of its morphological and social effects, including shortage of low-income housing yet large percentage of building vacancy, social segregation, excessive privatization of open public space and severe environmental damages. 10 The Map of Social Exclusion indicates discrepancies in standards of living in São Paulo’s segregated districts, noting an emptying of regulated formal city towards the unregulated informal outskirts. 11
10 11
Rio, Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia, 102. Andreoli, Brazil’s Modern Architecture, 135.
13
Theoretical Plan of Avenues:
Preste Maia’s radio-centric plan for road system in Sao Paulo, which makes downtown the converging point of many avenues leading to the peripheries. Focus on roadway construction detracted investments from railways.
research|introduction
Among the biggest contradictions of
the city, although the Greater São Paulo Metropolitan generates more than 25% of the country’s gross national product, few efforts have been put into regenerating deteriorated downtown urban spaces. 12 São Paulo is by no means a city for pedestrians; the clogging of traffic, heavy weaving of highways and freeways through its center, as well as dearth of public transport and impossible distances between points of interest render poor mobility to be one of the most crucial civic concerns. Characterized by vacant lots, urban dysfunctions, and concerns of safety, the deteriorating downtown of São Paulo is troubled by low-quality public spaces and an overall lack of urban consciousness.
12
Rio, Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia, 246.
THE STORY OF SAO PAULO: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW “Some mischievous spirit has defined America as a country which has moved from barbarism to decadence without enjoying any intermediary phase of civilization. The formula could be more correctly applied to the towns of the New World, which pass from freshness to decay without even simply being old. “ -anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Tristes Tropiques. (New York: Atheneum, 1974), 95.
1630, Sao Bento: Benedict Order
S
The Historical Triangle: the three religious orders mark the most important architecture corresponding to Sao Paulo’s triangular acropolis.
Benedict Order on the right in drawing by Ender, 1817. Sao BenThe current incarnation of the São Bento Monastery was constructed in 1922 under the instruction of architect Richard Berndl.
CH U
RC HE
Sao Bento
uV alley
3
1640-1643, Sao Francisco
ate
du
an
m Ta
Anha
ngaba
Photograph from Rio de Janeiro’s National Library. Church of St. Francis of Assisi was inaugurathe Franciscans in 1647.
r
ive
iR
Pátio do Colégio Se
1594, Carmo Church & Convent
Drawing by Debret showing Carmelites’ complex, 1817.
Initial Settlement!
Carmo
Sao Francisco
Portugeuse government initiated an economic shift from gold mining to the planting of sugarcane, resulting in a territorial expansion of the Americas due to sugar’s popular demand in Europe.
Estrada de Lorena allowed for territorial expansion.
MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE
African slaves working in sugar plantations.
Minas Sao Paulo Gerais Paraiba Valley
Exportation of coffee and construction of the railway rendered downtown a flourishing commercial and financial urban center. Areas beyond the Historical Triangle began to urbanize as well.
This complicated timeline gives a comprehensive overview of São Paulo’s historical foundation and subsequent developments.
VALLEYS AND PLATEAU
15 1650
1660
1670
1680
1690
1710
1720
1740
1711
1760
1780
1800
1765
1830
1820
1840
1850
1860
1822
1870
1867
Carmo Sao Francisco Minas Gerais
Sao Paulo
The first roads marked the outline of the city. Rua Direita (Straight Street) extended from the main Church to the Santo Antonio Chapel. Rua Sao Bento runs in the north-south axis connected the Sao Bento church with the Sao Francisco. Rua XV de Novembro, parallel to Tamanduatei River, gives form to the city. MINING PERIOD
GOLD MINING TO AGRICULTURE
Opening up of the railroad.
Prohibition of Indian slaves.
Brazil became independent of Portugal with an estimated population of 7000.
t)
Population: 7000
t Stree
Slaves had to be exclusively African, which largely increased the importance of trade.
(Straigh
Sao Paulo was officially a city.
ireita
Population: 840
Rua D
Sao Paulo grew up slowly during the exploration of the Minas Gerais. Sugar plantations succeeded in Paraiba Valley - connecting Rio de Janeiro with Sao Paulo, opening up new roads to the sea. Estrada de Lorena to Santos allowed Sao Paulo to reinforce its position as a mercantile city. Sorocaba became stopping point and marketplace of cattle, allowing the second expansion of agricultural lands.
o
Valle y bau
o Bent
anga Anh
Rua Sa
A polycentric urban structure.
r
bro
ovem
Expulsion of the Jesuits.
ive
iR
de N
Population: 200-300
ate
du
an
INITIAL JESUIT SETTLEMENT
Sao Bento
m Ta
Historical Triangle: Pátio do Colégio (School Patio)
1700
1693 Since the discovery of metals through semi-military enterprise known as bandeiras organized by the ruler of the colony, Sao Paulo became point of departure for incursions. Transactions of slaves, cattles, vegetables, and supplies drove the growth of the city.
Tamandualei River
Three groups of people: 1. Jesuits who wanted to catechize the Indian natives and establish Christianity. 2. government officials who wanted to establish domains over unclaimed lands 3. settlers who were interested in potential fortunes, slavery, trading of Indian.
1640
1630
XV
Sao Paulo was officially a village.
Terraced Plateau
1554
1620
The bandeiras were ruthless slavemasters, murderers and rapists, but their contribution to the expansion of Brazilian borders accredited them with heroic qualities.
Rua
Founded by Portuguese Priest Manuel da Nobrega, São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was established in 1554 as a mission to convert Guainás natives to Catholicism. A triangularshaped acropolis located between two valleys (R.Tamanduatei River and C. Anhangabau.
1610
1600
Bandeira expedition led to discovery of gold in the Minas Gerais.
1590
RO AD S
1580
1570
3
1560
1554
Estacao de Luz: first trai station in Sao Paulo, gave mobility to rural aristocracy to engage in life in the city.
Attention to rural land: sugarcane was being replaced by coffee
IMPERIAL PERIOD
1880
Population: 65 000
Paulista Avenue
The light building, 1929
Municipal Theater, 1903
Main post office, 1910 Early industrial buildings
Metropolitan Cathedral of Se, 1913-70
SAO PAULO URBANIZATION
NEW REPUBLIC/INDUSTRIALIZATION
Theoretical Plan of Avenues: Preste Maia’s radio-centric plan for road system in Sao Paulo, which makes downtown the converging point of many avenues leading to the peripheries. Focus on roadway construction detracted investments from railways.
ita
Praca da Republica in Centro Nuovo.
Shift from industrial to service-based economy.
1985
1950
1960 1992
WHY DID PEOPLE MOVE AWAY?
1970
1971
Southwest vector of development: depletive relocation of office space.
Se and Republica Population: 82 600
1930 1932
1. upper-middle class attracted to newly constructed city centers such as Paulista Avenue 2. high rates of crime, violence, security issues 3. lack of public space
Verticalization law based on urban planning legislation.
1940
H
Downtown informality: Martinelli building became home to 2000 squatters.
1922 1924 1974
Major Olavo Setubal closed off vehicular traffic most traditional streets in the Historical Triangle and Centro Novo due to influx of commuters. However, lack of vehicular access rendered the historical center even less attractice for the upper middle class.
1920
Population reached 3.7 million. Urban Decay: Downtown no longer had the most expensive rent.
1910
1962
Industrialization occurred at fringes of the city along new expressways. Industries formed in the 1900’s became obsolete due to the need to ease transportation access at national scale for bountiful supply of electric energy.
1889 1892 Upper middle class moved to Paulista Avenue.
eita
Population reached 2.2 million.
Dir
1949
Industrialization occurred at fringes of the city along new expressways. Industries formed in the 1900’s became obsolete due to the need to ease transportation access at national scale for bountiful supply of electric energy.
Rua
Population reached 1.4 million.
Dire
1924
Beginning of favelas: Influx of cheap labor force for the new heavy industries required a need for low-income housing, marking a turning point for Sao Paulo’s urbanism: the proliferation of self-construction. Downtown was no longer the only commercial area with the extrapolation physical limits of the city. The city witnessed a transference of offices and luxury commerces from downtown to these new city centers.
PA R K S & GA R D E N S Anhangabau Valley landscaped by Jardim da Luz: renovated garden French architect Joseph Bouvard. at Luz Station.
1913
Rapid population growth due to opening of roadways connecting major Brazilian cities, transference of Brazilian economy to heavy industrialization, and automobile production implemented in the ABCD region.
1929 stock market crash.
1897
Sao Paulo’s Constituional Revolution.
1895 Anh anga bau Val ley
uV alle y
1914
First skyscraper built in Sao Paulo - Martinelli building.
1900 Rua gaba
uV alle y
ey Vall
A nh an
bau
First buslines.
anga
1905
Beginning of informal housing construction in Centro Velho (Old Center) by factory workers .
Anh gaba
1881
A nh an
Abolition of slavery.
CONNECTION& E X P A N S I O N
Semana de Arte Moderna (Week of Modern Art) in 1922 symbolized cultural expansion. An industrial sector was made possible by European immigrants and rural land migrants.
1890
Adoption of French Beaux-Arts architectural language.
A centennial desire of the city to expand westward to the highlands. The new bridge put the Anhangabau Valley as the open gate of the city, defying its original natural limits. ta irei aD
Ru
Construction of Viaduto do Cha allowed city to expand westward.
research|introduction
Construction of Viaduto do Cha across the Anhangabau Valley allowed for development of a Centro Novo (new downtown), realizing the city’s desire to expand towards the highlands of the west.
1997
CONCRETE JUNGLE: BECOMING METROPOLIS ABANDONMENT & VACANCY
L Education Level
1976 1980 1990
Historical Triangle today 2000 2010
2017
Historical triangle surrounded by abandoned buildings
1960’S AND BEYOND
2017
17
yes. maybe. who knows...
Can these structures be given a second chance?
research|introduction
01.3 Research questions This research and design investigation aims to tackle these problematic and
contradictory urbanistic issues in SĂŁo Paulo through designing surgical acupunctures at both an architectural and urban scale in order to recuperate the value of vacated urban areas in the old city center and to express critical reflections regarding preservations, reuse and restorations involving the transformations of architectural and urban sites in the historical downtown of SĂŁo Paulo. The proposal speculates a new city manifesto that employs adaptive reuse as an opportunity to initiate a bottom-up, participatory development of the urban context, and aims to address the following questions.
19
Areas around the Historic Triangle today faces severe vacancy
research|introduction
? ? ? ? ? ? 1. In a broader framework, what happens to architecture when it has fallen into disuse and irrelevance?
2. Can abandoned architectural and infrastructural sites be rescued from shameful statuses of neglect and have the potential to be preserved, repurposed, celebrated and eventually be beneficial to their surrounding urban fabrics? 3. More specifically to the scenario in SĂŁo Paulo, can local actions influence a metropolitan territory? 4. Can design at the architectural scale have greater impacts on an urban level in order to resist simulacra and homogenization? 5. What should be considered for the requalification of vacant buildings to fulfill needs and interests of the community and investors alike for this area? 6. And finally, how does urbanism, without simply becoming prescriptive ordering and instrument of repression, confront re-articulation of a fragmented urban territory and embrace an alternative grassroots and participatory model of development rooted in change, uncertainty and incompleteness?
21
research
02.
building vacancy
02.1. The Phenomenon of a Shrinking Center and the Southwest Vector of Development 02.2. Facts and Figures
23
Southwest vector of development
research|building vacancy
02.1 The phenomenon of a shrinking center and the southwest vector of development The deterioration of the inner city is largely due to the “frontier mentality” in terms of
land consumption described in the previous section. Old centers are vacated when new ones are built; they then become increasingly plagued by rising security and safety concerns as well as corrosion of desirable public spaces. In a phenomenon known as the “Southwest Vector of Development,” São Paulo’s urban expansion experiences a fast-paced, progressive depletive relocation of prestigious office spaces and upper class residential buildings from downtown to the southwestern region along Marginal Pinheiros. 13 As businesses constantly seek out “new investment opportunities made available by existence of cheap land and sustained by regulations favorable to redevelopment at high densities,” 14 creation of new city centers such as the Paulista Avenue area in the 1950’s to later the Higienópolis marks the transference of interest away from the historical downtown. Yet these new commercial cores lack in historical and cultural relevance and exclude a large portion of the population.
Shieh, Leonardo. Urban Acupunctures as a strategy for São Paulo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2006. 38. 14 Andreoli, Brazil’s Modern Architecture, 136.
13
The districts of Sé and República will be focus of this thesis.
25
research|building vacancy
This thesis
focuses on opportunities of reoccupying vacant structures in the historical districts of Sé and República, which include both public and private properties mostly constructed between 1920’s to 1970’s. Mainly administrative and commercial, the Sé and República districts today remain one of the central financial districts of the city despite their deteriorated physical conditions, where urbanity has been molded in accordance to a vertical modernist development. Collapse of the public transport system as well as the cultural mentality of the Paulistas both served to precipitate the dire urban decay. The road system implemented in previous decades failed to anticipate the rapid population growth to 5 million people, rendering buildings in the center to be inaccessible for new businesses and living purposes, yet the development of public transport has been stifled due to the immense influence of the self-interested automobile industry. 15 Meanwhile, the mentality of the citizens has altered in parallel with the former scenario. The Paulistas aligned their aspirations much with the American consumerist way of life. The use of car has become a crucial mobile necessity besides being a status symbol. 16 A context without rudimentary accessibility to car-parking was no longer socially acceptable.
15
16
Monfregola, Alessandro. “Vacant buildings for housing in São Paulo: How to attract inhabitants and investors in the districts of Se and Republica”. ETH Wohnforum. ETH Case. 2013. 27. Ibid, 27.
Monday - Saturday
Sunday
27
Minhocao is a severely top-down intervention of
a 2.7 km elevated highway that rips off a preexistent and consolidated zone - causing building degradation and urban disaggregation. However, it is appropriated by people as a linear park during idle times, demostrating the spontaneous and opportunistic creation of public space.
research|building vacancy
In terms of public space, in the book Brazil’s Modern Architecture, author Elisabetta
Andreoli criticizes the public domain built by the Paulista bourgeoisie as “one that is badly designed, [exploiting] occupation to the [fullest] and is the result of altering legislation to obtain bigger profits…[and] meanwhile, increasing violence, the result of a massive degree of social exclusion, [pushing] the wealthy inside their homes, where they are protected by alarms, electric fences, surveillance systems and armies of security guards.” 17 More than ever, rethinking urbanism and the creation of productive public space marks a new fundamental praxis in the rehabilitation of the central city.
17
Andreoli, Brazil’s Modern Architecture, 136.
vacant buildings in Sé and República
29
research|building vacancy
02.2 Facts and Figures According to IGBE Census 2010, despite having a broad range of infrastructures,
public facilities and jobs, the Sé subprefecture is the least populated administrative region in the city, covering an area of 26.2 km2 and having merely 41 106 inhabitants. 18 As of 2005, there are recorded 402 807 vacant houses and flats in São Paulo, 19 and the amount of vacant properties in downtown including both lots and buildings numbers at 523. 20 Half of the vacant properties remains to be unidentified. The other half points out that the phenomenon of idleness occurs mainly between properties of commercial use (34.0%), residential use (2.9%) and mixed use (11.1%). 21 Empirical survey on use of these properties demonstrates the current chief usage of these buildings as parking (44.9%). 22 Totally vacant buildings account for 20% of the surveyed properties, and buildings with only the ground floor occupied with commercial activities makes up another 20%. 23 What emerges from this empirical analysis is that the enormous use of the street level for commercial activity and carparking reflects an urban liveliness and a large opportunity for redevelopment. While the street level activities ensure an economic viability of the area, highrise buildings with 85-90% of vacancy remains an untapped potentiality to reverse the physical depreciation of the property and to reinject possibilities into an enervating urban body.
IGBE Census 2010 http://censo2010.ibge.gov.br/ Raquel Rolnik, “São Paulo zwischen Wachstum und Schrumpfung. Eine chronologische Stadtgeschichte”, Arch+, n.190, 2008 20 Monfregola, Alessandro. “Vacant buildings for housing in São Paulo: How to attract inhabitants and investors in the districts of Se and Republica”, 40. 21 Ibid, 40. 22 Ibid, 40. 23 Ibid, 40. 18 19
31
research
03.
current trends
03.1 Problems of housing deficit and illegal squatter settlements 03.2 Current scenario: reoccupation for low-income housing purposes
33
research|current trends
03.1 Problems of housing deficit and illegal squatter settlements A contradiction born out of São Paulo’s simultaneous urban contraction and peripheral
expansion is the lack of low-income housing in a context of urban vacancy and abandonment. The downtown area is characterized by an infrastructural abundancy that contrasts with scarcity of housing, with the latter contributing to a growing gap in social inequality and wealth distribution.
Sao Vito building as vertical favella
35
research|current trends
The unchecked and overlooked vacant urban terrain becomes free ground for
parasitic informal colonization. Since the 1970s, the old city has observed a wide spread of informal economy fraught with street vendors and illegal activities appropriating public spaces in an uncontrolled and disorganized way.24 Subversively, the underprivileged class in society found ways to encroach and inhabit existing architecture and infrastructure to exert its rights to basic needs for shelter and freedom of expression. Self-construction becomes key connivance in addressing the immediate need for housing in the city center. As a prime example, once proudly stood as São Paulo’s tallest skyscraper, Edifício São Vito has been expropriated and evacuated in 2004 25 and has since been overtaken by squatters.
24 25
Rio, Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia, 252. “Época São Paulo – Blog #CentroAvante » Um futuro colorido para o São Vito » Arquivo”. Colunas.epocasp.globo. com. 19 July 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
Housing deficit
37
Vacant buildings
research|current trends
03.2 Current scenario: reoccupation for low-income housing purposes In recent years, municipal authorities and banks have initiated endeavors to reverse the
decline of the city center as a strategy to contain informal urban sprawl. Conversion of disused industrial buildings to cultural uses, as well as renovation of historic buildings are implemented as attempts to lure investors back into the central areas.26 The modernist “blank-slate� or tabula rasa approach to urban design no longer provides solutions to our contemporary urban problems. Rather, providing new functionality and livelihood to decrepit spaces of obsolescence is now the preferred alternative towards planning and design. In a broader sense, the challenge to contemporary architecture and urbanism is not to create brand new infrastructures, but rather to confront the existing city, which begins with its infrastructure, without negating it. Instead of trespassing onto satellite, unexplored territories in the peripheries, recent emergence of interest in considering reconversion of buildings as an apt solution to shortages of housing, in light of socio-demographic alterations in the city, would better propel revitalization given the great number of vacancy, current social and cultural dynamics, and the political-legislative context.
26
Andreoli, Elisabetta, and Adrian Forty. Brazil’s Modern Architecture. London: Phaidon, 2004.137.
FLM housing protest movement
39
research|current trends
We inhabit a moment in time where there is a little room in urban design for
“experimentation or for post-modernization of historic facades, fake place-making, and irresponsible gentrification.”27 Rather than superfluous expressions, urbanism ought to be steered by essential needs of the community and the people. Parallel to the shift in attitudes and planning direction undertaken by the official government, grassroots actions taken by community-based, non-governmental organizations to systematically reoccupy abandoned structures as sites for housing exemplify bottom-up endeavors to reclaim socially responsible and programmatic possibilities of these vacant buildings. Housing movements organized by special-interest groups such as Frente da Luta por Moradia (FLM), or “Front of the Line Housing Struggle” aims at urban reform through conversion of useless structures for housing purposes. 28
27 28
Rio, Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia, 252. Frente de Luta por Moradia. Princípios.
41
design
04.
site survey
historical downtown, vacant sites, thematic extractions
Cultural/ritual events in SĂŁo Paulo Carnival Type: spectacle Duration: annual Feb/March Area required: 1,000,000 sqft
Spirit of Londont Type: music/spectacle Duration: annual (one night in March) Area required: 1,000,000 sqft
Tiete River
an Tam er
min by
i Riv
| 16
te dua
7.5km car Minhocao Type: pedestrian/leisure Duration: weekly (Sunday) Length of viaduct: 2.7 km
CEASA Type: food/cultural Duration: five times a week Area required: 7,500,000 sqft
Municipal Market Type: food/cultural Duration: daily Area required: 137,200 sqft n by car
)
1.5
km
(20
min
Mostra Internacional de Cinema Type: film/theater Duration: annual two weeks Oct-Nov Area required: 9,800 sqft
0k
m
6.5 km (18 min by car)
km
1.7
(25
min
Sao Vito Festival Type: cultural/ethnic Duration: annual May-July Length of street: 1180 ft
km
2m
c by
(1
Benedito Calixto: all day market Type: food/cultural Duration: weekly on Saturday Area required: 52,500 sqft
1.8 km (20
ar)
in
4.5
min walk)
Virada Cultural Type: festival/spectacle Duration: annual 24h in May Length of street occupied: 15km
Samba Saturday Type: cultural/leisure Duration: weekly on Saturday Area required: 1,800 sqft
in b yc
Av en ue
3m
by c
ar
2000
ta
|1
lis
km
Outdoor markets Type: food Duration: weekly (every Sunday) Area required: 22,500 sqft
Pa u
7.2
Parada do Orgulho LGBT Type: cultural Duration: annual one day Length of avenue: 4.2 km
ar
Chinese New Year Type: cultural/ethnic Duration: annual Jan-Feb
km
|4
0m
in
Sao Paulo Art Biennual Type: cultural/art Duration: biennual Oct-Dec Area required: 80,000 sqft
24 .3
1000
Sao Paulo Fashion Week Type: spectacle Duration: biennual Jan and June Area required: 52,000 sqft
Ibipuera Park Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Type: sport/race (2 days) Duration: annual (2 days in Apr/May) Area required: 8,000,000 sqft
Botanical Gardens Type: scenic/natural Duration: daily Area required: 406 acres
Japanese Festival Type: cultural/ethnic Duration: annual July 7-9 Area required: 40,600 sqft
The sporadic growth of the city results in impossible distances between points of interests.
N 0m
43
m
(23 mi
0k
15.3 km
Luz Train Station
design|site survey
multiculturalism by the numbers #1. Portugal 100,855 immigrants and 3 million Portugeuese-Brazilians #2. Bolivia 53,235 immigrants and 200,000 Bolivian-Brazilians| Pari, Bras, Bom Retiro #3. Japan 47,317 immigrants and 300,000 Japanese-Brazilians | Liberdade #4. Italy 33,388 immigrants | Mooca, Bras, Bixiga #5. Spain 26,496 immigrants | Vila Zelina #6. China 24,914 immigrants | Liberdade, Bras #7. South Korea 16,979 immigrants | Bom Retiro, Liberdade, Aclimacao #8. Argentina 13,816 immigrants | spread around the city #9. Germany 9,715 immigrants | Santo Amaro, Brooklin, Colonia Paulista #10. Chile 9.449 immigrants #11. EUA 8,475 immigrants #12. France 6,749 immigrants #13. Lebanon 6,672 immigrants #14. Peru 6,610 immigrants #15. Paraguay 5,504 immigrants
Mapping of important monuments and buiilding vacancy in Sé and República TIRADENTES
ESTACAO JULIO PRESTS
PINA COTECA
SALA SAO PAULO LUZ STATION
LUZ
SANTA CECILIA
MUNICIPAL MARKET
MOSTEIRO DE SAO BENTO
REPUBLICA EDIFICIO ITALIA
SAO BENTO MUNICIPAL THEATER
EDIFICIO COPAN MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
45
LIGHT BUILDING CITY HALL
CULTURAL CENTER PATEO DI COLLEGIO
ANHANGABAU
TRIANGULO BUILDING
ESTACAO DE METRO SE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SAO PAULO CATHEDRAL PALACIO DA JUSTICA DE SP
LIBERDADE
SAO JOAQUIM
metro line significant monuments parks and open space Tamanduatei River vacant buildings
PEDRO II
design|site survey
type of property occupation vacant lots totally vacant buildings buildings used as parking illegally occupied buildings under construction construction halted most floors vacant only ground floor occupied
num. 13 105 235 6 12 7 44 101
area sqm 7224 46993 207443 5224 6091 3822 22156 44149
type of use of property unidentified former commercial use unoperating hotel mixed use residential
num. 258 178 14 58 15
area sqm 215401 85564 8135 26329 7673
ratio 2.1% 13.7% 60.5% 1.5% 1.8% 1.1% 6.5% 12.9%
ratio 62.8% 24.9% 2.4% 7.7% 2.2%
Monfregola, Alessandro. “Vacant buildings for housing in São Paulo: How to attract inhabitants and investors in the districts of Se and Republica”, 40.
Existing infrastructural networks
47
subway stops railway and subway: mid-income and low-income commute highway/expressway/roads for cars: mid-income and upper-class commute
design|site survey
Existing zoning
low-income residential mixed-use new development zones commercial institutional residential open/public space
49
design
05.
design proposal
05.1 Spatial agency, terrain vague and indeterminate design 05.2 A speculative architectural manifesto
Rem Koolhaas is obsessed with Lagos and how it works.
51
design | design proposal
05.1 Spatial agency, terrain vague and indeterminate design In our current discourse, architecture and urbanism experience a slow shift from
a model of timelessness to a model of timeliness. Emergent topics such as “ecological urbanism,” “landscape urbanism,” and “infrastructural urbanism” suggest there is a transition in our operating strategies from deterministic and inflexible systems at the scale of selfreferential buildings to adaptable models which include dimensions of temporality and anticipation for change to allow for diversification and customization at the scale of cities. While growth of informal development is mostly frowned upon by authorities, the notion of a participatory planning and grassroots politics developed outside of conventional regulatory frameworks imparts insightful and ingenious solutions to urban problems. In his research on the developments of African cities such as Lagos, Rem Koolhaas describes their working mechanisms as “mutating operations and adopting agents that would be considered ‘marginal, liminal, informal or illegal’”. 29 In between the rigidity of the utterly prescribed planning reflecting the status quo of São Paulo’s formal city and the stark opposite of an anarchistic, selfconstructed development mirroring the city’s outskirts, lies a sweet balance that embodies the benefits of both. Flexibility in urban design is achieved by negotiating between imposed limits of top-down planning and simultaneous permissions for bottom-up, circumstantial adaptations that respond to unexpected changes.
29
Askan, Esra. “Reading the Generic City: Retroactive Manifestos for Global Cities of the Twenty-first Century”. Per specta Yale Architectural Journal. No. 41, 2008. Pp. 144-152.
53
design | design proposal
In his book, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, Jeremy Till quotes Henri Lefebvre’s ideas about social space: “Social space is a social product.” 30 A different understanding of space arises out of Lefebvre’s redefinition: social production is a “shared enterprise,” and social space is a “dynamic space… [whose] production continues overtime and is not fixed to a single moment of completion.” 31 Till argues in the spirit of Cedric Price that building is not necessarily the best and only solution to a spatial problem. An alternative way of seeing architecture is one that removes the architect as the individual hero and replaces him with collaborating agents who act with, and on behalf of, others.
Awan, Nishat, Tatjana Schneider, and Jeremy Till. Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture. Abingdon, Oxon [England]: Routledge, 2011. 29. 31 Ibid, 29.
30
“terrain vague� theorized by Ignasi de Sola-Morales
55
design | design proposal
Similar idea of embracing indeterminacy has also been proposed by Ignasi
de Sola-Morales in his essay “Terrain Vague,” written in 1995. Sola-Morales argues that void and absence a terrain vague is also “promise, the space of the possible, of expectation.” 32 The dual concept of a land defined by indeterminacy theorizes on non-design and the margins of the ordered world we are part of. The potential of exploring the concept of terrain vague in design presents a unique chance of imbuing spatial and social form to an existing urban phenomenon of change and uncertainty.
32
De Sola-Morales Ignasi. “Terrain Vague”. Terrain Vague: Interstices At the Edge of the Pale. First edition. New York: Routledge, 2014. 121.
57
Ideas on shrinking cities: Cities within the city, Berlin: A Green Archipelago O.M. Ungers and Rem Koolhaas “Architecture has been defined in terms of one activity, and that activity is adding to the world. A few years ago I realized the profession was as if lobotomized – it was stuck conceiving of itself only in terms of adding things and not in terms of taking away or erasing things. The same intelligence for adding ought to also deal with its debris.” - Rem Koolhaas, 1996
design | design proposal
05.2 A speculative architectural manifesto The design manifesto
portion of this investigation is unlike most architectural manifestos which operate at massive and intangible urban scales, but rather focuses on acupunctural insertions that begin with a seeded action at the scale of architecture that would then catalyze a series of temporally successive events and grassroots developments involving active participation of the occupants. In addition to the already.-existing housing and reoccupation movements, this research and design proposes for the potentiality of expanding on the notion of preservation and reoccupation to greater boundaries by establishing an urban framework for bottom-up, grassroots development in site-specific, programmatically unique yet flexible contexts. Eight narratives, each with its theme extracted from existing cultural and infrastructural contexts, are sited in vacant buildings across downtown to form a constellation of surgical deployments that effectuates a new mobile network of connections rooted in an adaptive and participatory urbanism.
59
image: O.M. Ungers’ Stadthausentwurfe Marburg 1976
design | design proposal
Exploring concepts of spatial agency, terrain vague and indeterminate design
discussed in the previous sub-section, each intervention is initially composed of a “halfdesign� that allows room for future adaptive additions or subtractions related to topics such as community-building, living, food production, mobility, health and the cleansing of water. In each scenario, architecture extends beyond its immediate, restricted plot and relates to a broader context of existing infrastructures such as highways, roads, public open plazas, or green spaces in the city. Names reflecting a theme extracted from existing cultural and infrastructural contexts have been assigned to these new developments, which suggest, but without limiting hybridized programmatic usage of these obsolete structures.
1. STARTING A PROTEST............................ (free speech, postings, advocating...democratic?)
2. WITNESSING A SPECTACLE.................. (large events and happenings)
3. A PLACE WHERE EVERYONE IS FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE.............................. (mixed cultural and multi-cultural events)
4. MORE THAN AN OASIS............................ 61
(agriculture? botanical garden? education about plants? a manmade terrain? room full of earth?)
5. CLOSE TO WATER.................................... (relationship with the river...bath? cleansing? remediation?
6. FOR CATCHING A SCENT......................
(cherry blossom? garden? flowers? flower markets? food markets? markets? perfume?)
7. AN ENDLESS LOOP...............................
(car-parking? electric-car charging? athletic center? running? biking? some kind of sports lineage...)
8. SHOWING OFF A TALENT....................... (practice space for the creatives - artists, dancers, musicians, runway?)
9. A USELESS VOID......................................
(space for meditation, urban sublime, urban sanctuary? dark spaces? light spaces? narrow spaces? big spaces?)
design | design proposal
This list of names
includes, “starting a protest,” “witnessing a spectacle,” “where everyone comes from somewhere else,” “close to water,” “more than an oasis,” “for catching a scent,” “an endless loop”, “showing off a talent,” and a “useless void.” These projects are imagined to be developed in parallel with current housing movements such as FLM mentioned in the previous section. To prevent market economy from encroaching into these movements, new suggestions of alternative ownerships in the city such as community-based land trusts, collective ownership or community-based land trust allows such imaginative narratives to be plausible.
everyone comes from somewhere else
for catching a scent
a useless void
starting a protest
more than an oasis
63 showing off a talent an endless loop close to water
civic clusters protests, freedom of speech, NGO’s, special interest groups work/life incubators, co-working, living units, collaborating, start-ups artistic young artists, artist studio, small galleries, musicians, performance community/cultural ethno-hubs, residence, multicultural, plug-in units, economy of sharing water programs pools, cleansing, landscaping, bathhouse, water treatment, buffers ecological pods growing of food, farming, aquaculture, ecological rooms, recycling utilitarian hybrids parking garage, running track, gym, health/living the urban relievers the urban sublime, a place for meditation, light/dark, quietude
design | design proposal
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
starting a protest/witnessing a spectacle.1 everyone comes from somewhere else.2 close to water.3 more than an oass.4 for catching a scent.5 an endless loop.6 showing off a talent.7 a useless void.8
BRAINSTORM PROCESS brain dump, inspiration, precedents, images, thoughts, what I like
1. STARTING A PROTEST
SPECIAL EVENT: protest space, demonstration, speeches, end of a parade, *freedom tower*, a democratic space LOCATION: across from city hall, in front of Viaduto do Cha gate monument by Paulo Mendes de Rocha MUNDANE USE: office space for NGOs, special interest groups - different sizes; meeting space; advertising, housing??? ; daycare?? in response to needs of women social advocates SPATIAL QUALITIES: -transparency -visibility -including a big space, gathering space, spectator space -something eye-catching -a giant bulletin, writeable surfaces -idea forum/convention center -a lot of signages! - message board? -recordings of past protests HOW DOES THIS EVOLVE OVERTIME? -growth of number of interest groups/diversity? is it just more packed? -increased collaboration? -breaking down rigidity? -removal of facade? or more attachment? maybe
34 storeys 120m
this facade faces an important street
65 43
SITE
design | design proposal
67
design
06.
new city manifesto
06.1 Surgical Acupunctures as Constructed Narratives 06.2 A new mobility network wild speculation, temporal development, eight narratives
the “seeds”
69 01
the 10-year developed scenario
design | new city manifesto
06.1 Surgical acupunctures as constructed narratives In a sequential narrative
development, the manifesto starts with a protest, and occupies a vacant office building facing the gate of downtown in front of Viaduto do Cha. The top row of drawings in the image on the left suggests the very first move that is taken as a initiator. Each “seed� is imbued with indeterminacy yet an overall structure. Absence of limit precisely contains the expectations of mobility and vacant roving. The bottom drawings are potential temporal developments when the seeds have fully blossomed and matured.
phase I. planting the seeds
civic clusters work/life artistic community/cultural water programs ecological pods utilitarian hybrids the urban relievers
71 01
phase II. connecting constellations
design | new city manifesto
phase III. matured networks
everyone comes from somewhere else
for catching a scent
a useless void 73 01
more than an oasis
starting a protest
close to water
an endless loop
showing off a talent
design | new city manifesto
06.2 A new mobile network The initial round of reoccupation may seem incidental, unrelated and distinct at first, a new
mobile and productive network is soon woven together as more vacant structures (there are over 500 vacant buildings alone in downtown) enter the subversive architectural movement, with smaller structures perhaps acting as supporting roles for larger, adjacent buildings under a common theme.
TALE 1. STARTING A PROTEST
Paulista Avenue
75
viaduto do cha
city hall
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
what it used to look like
“Starting a protest” is the original instigator of
this entire narrative. Born out of suppressed discontent and grievances, the citizens of São Paulo marched from Paulista Avenue to the plaza in front of City Hall under a community-led protest. Issues such as lack of low-income housing, flooding and environmental pollution of the waterfront, and lack of green spaces and public spaces were brought to discussion. This event led to the rethinking of ownership and adaptive reuse of existing structures in the city that remain vacant and neglected, which could potentially uncover the latent possibilities of these useless sites. Initial elements include a grand staircase entrance leading to a giant hall facing the gate of the historic center, a spectator venue, and a panelized LED facade extending from the building exterior. The main tower is used for office and conferencing purposes for small and large NGO’s whereas the smaller structures provide supporting functions of broadcasting, recording, watching.
the LED facade of the building is constantly modified by users behind
77
design | new city manifesto
elevating the public view: towards viaduto do cha
a grandiose entrance to the “speech hall�
go ahead and customize!
79
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 2. EVERYONE COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE
Luz Train Station
81
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
“Everyone comes from somewhere else”
situates on a site adjacent to the Luz Train Station, a busy transport hub that accommodates the largest movement and encounters of a fluctuating social and ethnic body. The theme of temporary housing and community building based upon cultural differences is an apt designation for the site, both acknowledging and embracing multiculturalism and diversity in the city. Vacant structures here are largely composed of open-plan single-storey industrial buildings closely packed together in one plot, interrupted by sparse appearances of apartment buildings and storefronts. The initial movement involves connecting all the vacant buildings on the ground floor by removing partitions between them and transforming the linked armature into an open site for cultural and community activities. The column structure extends over the roof to form a “ready-toinsert” frame that would further invite absorption of suspended modular housing, self-built homes and informal public programs and circulatory platforms.
vacant structures connected on ground level to form an open-plan community space
83
waiting to be colonized....
design | new city manifesto
Yas - community building!
units and public programs are suspended from a structural grid extended from the ground level
85 01
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 3. CLOSE TO WATER
87 01
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
“Close to water� involves programs related to the cleansing of
both the river and body. The great ambition of creating a riparian buffer integrating landscape with the notions of recreation, remediation and health begins with a public swimming pool, connected to a bath-house adjacent to the Tamanduatei River with newly installed purification facilities and cisterns for clean water storage.
the city, now benefiting from clean water and recreational waterfronts
landscaping cistern storage
bathhouse
data servers
water rock! 89 01
bioremediation
public swimming pool
purification towers
Tamanduatei River
water-related elements
bathhouse
91 01
The success of the “seed� led to large-scale redevelopment of waterfronts along the entire Tamanduatei River. In a city where landscape and urbanism are objectifiedly demarcated, this project re-evaluates the binary relationship of the two and proposes for construction of a new relationship between them which not only considers bioremediation, but speculates on the notion of health, recreation, and the celebration of existing industrial patrimony.
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 4. MORE THAN AN OASIS
93 01
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
“More than an oasis� is an urban farming/agricultural movement. Attempting to bridge the gap between building and park infrastructure, a plot of public park currently used for informal markets and sandwiched between two vacant office buildings is now transformed into land for cultivation. Thin and light wooden structures multiply and extend from the two buildings to form circulation connections, site for storage, trellis for vertical growth and space for public gathering.
... and live here!
you can plant and grow things here! 95 01
design | new city manifesto
97 01
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 5. FOR CATCHING A SCENT
99 01 municipal market
outdoor market
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
“For catching a scent” is a reinterpretation of
the market typology in the city. The intervention reactivates the “dead space” on the second floors and roofs of a partially vacant complex by introducing a galleria that cuts through the building. Spaces on either side of the new circulation path are rented out to small market business owners who are able to grow and sell their produce in a farm-to-table fashion. Mostly used for cultivation by the store owners in the floor below, the roof is also accessible to the public. The transformed building complex proposes an in-between typology of the formal Municipal Market and the utterly informal and disorganized street market adjacent to the site.
the galleria weaves in and out of the complex
101
roof planter beds with both private and public access
design | new city manifesto
connects to existing informal market
private circulation for market owners
interior galleria with markets on either side
103
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 6. AN ENDLESS LOOP
105
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
An “endless loop�
is conversion of a group of buildings into a complex for electric car charging and parking, latching onto existing infrastructures of a highway and a major road, . The road extends into the building and leads to a car-parking tower.
charging/parking
107 69 01
design | new city manifesto
Overtime, the theme of mobility expands to include the passage of pedestrians, joggers, bikers on top of serving the needs of cars. The complex becomes increasingly hybridized to include programs of running tracks, an athletic center, rock climbing wall and a gym.
electric cars
joggers 109
bikes
design | new city manifesto
phase III. the developed scenario
TALE 7. SHOWING OFF A TALENT
historic triangle
111 77
protest building and plaza
creative public programs in the city
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
The low-rise vacant buildings
in the Historic Triangle are connected by public performance programs to establish a network supporting the artistic community. Relationship between buildings, the street, air rights above the street are re-examined through insertions of these creative connective tissues.
spectators go here!
anyone can perform here!
TALE 8. A USELESS VOID
Mosteiro de Sao Bento de Sao Paulo
113 79 77
phase I. the “seed”
design | new city manifesto
The “useless void� is a sanctuary for meditation and sublime reflection in a city characterized by congestion and urban pollution. It seems to be the most static member in the seeded movement.
early formal and light studies
115 77 81
review
07.
final thesis review
somehow happened, model documentation, final drawings, final remarks
May 13, 2017 Sibley Hall John Hartell Gallery Section I. 15:00 - 16:00 Faculty critics: Andrea Simitch Julian Palacio Val Warke Ryan Ludwig
117 77 81
Guest critics: Ángel Martínez García-Posada Anna Inber-Bokov Kutan Ayata Elie Gamburg
review | final thesis review
photo credit: Ihwa Choi
A wall of 1.5D relief drawings/models, but you can’t really see...
119 77
1. starting a protest
2. everyone comes from somewhere else 3. close to water
4. more than an oa
asis
review | final thesis review
5. an endless loop
6. for catching a scent
7. showing off a talent 8. a useless void
photo credit: Christopher Andras
121 77 81
review | final thesis review
photo credit: Liekkas Yang, Gloria Yan, Christopher Andras, Jane Lee
123 77 81
Starting a protest
An endless loop
For catching a scent
A useless void
More than an oasis
125
final model
Starting a protest 127
final model
More than an oasis
129
final model
For catching a scent
131
final model
133
An endless loop
final model
A useless void
135
final model
137
review|final thesis review
Conclusion São Paulo’s modernist legacy immensely influenced the modernization and rapid
development of the city. However, in the light of the status quo, philosophies and methods of urban design from the past eras are no longer applicable in solving our contemporary issues today. São Paulo’s contradictory scenario of a shrinking center and an expanding precarious periphery invites reimagination of architecture’s role as programmatic and opportunistic infrastructure that catalyzes seeded events and grassroots developments which eventually gives the city back to its citizens. Ultimately, a new city is overlay onto the old, where incremental changes are allowed in a participatory manner of its occupants, in stark contrast with the concrete jungle the São Paulo as we know today.
139
bibliography
08.
work cited
readings, research, knowlege
141
1. Andreoli, Elisabetta, and Adrian Forty. Brazil’s Modern Architecture. London: Phaidon, 2004. 2. Askan, Esra. “Reading the Generic City: Retroactive Manifestos for Global Cities of the Twenty-first Century”. Perspecta Yale Architectural Journal. No. 41, 2008. Pp. 144-152. 3. Awan, Nishat, Tatjana Schneider, and Jeremy Till. Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture. Abingdon, Oxon [England]: Routledge, 2011. 4. Cavalcanti, Lauro When Brazil Was Modern: Guide to Architecture, 19281960. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. 5. De Sola-Morales Ignasi. “Terrain Vague”. Terrain Vague: Interstices At the Edge of the Pale. First edition. New York: Routledge, 2014. 6. Lerner, Jaime. Urban Acupuncture: Celebrating Pinpricks of Change that Enrich City Life. Washington: Island Press, 2014. 7. Monfregola, Alessandro. “Vacant buildings for housing in São Paulo: How to attract inhabitants and investors in the districts of Se and Republica”. ETH Wohnforum. ETH Case. 2013. 40. 8. Rio, Vincente Del, and William J. Siembieda. Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010.