Context:
The project was located in the city Sao Paulo in Brazil, based on proposed new urban fabric, which intended to renew the old industrial site and its surrounding area. The part design specific dealing is the riverfront landscape and area ecological and cultural issue. Through the investigation of the site, we recognize the site issue contained isolation from the surrounding urban context, long -term pollution caused by industrial relic, as well as the unpredictability of the complex natural events— flood.
The design starts from the ecological view to read the site, identified the “preserved forest”, “industrial pollution area”, “sensitive flood plane”, which vulnerable with river dynamic performance. Then a relative long-termed, but economical natural recovery strategy, began with excavating of polluted soil, after natural and chemical clearance, was self consumed by the land itself or transfer as the basic material of building natural dike to protect the flood sensitive area.
Since the flexible capacity of river always knitted into the consideration of every aspects of urban growing and recovery, I tried to read the river as a changeable flow rather than strict line drawer on the map. Inspired by a book described this natural characteristic of Mississippi River and intention of reading the river out of the whole engineering prospective, I also tried to read the city as a field that contained different flexible, undetermined flows. For example, the freeway that imprinted in our daily life; the pedestrian flow indicated the urban programming and symbolic representation and imagination; the treatment and collection system of storm water , which even though hided under the obvious scope of people, underground, still is proceeding and transferring everyday. Based this understanding of those various “urban flows”, the site no longer be a piece that left out in the vague terrain of the city, but shall be perform, even stimulate the invisible dynamic of the city.
As a result, relied on the understanding, this design tried to create a undefined field that allow and encourage the interaction of the existing urban flows, as well as distribute to the further possibilities. I tried to use this concept to create a series of “pools”, which gentle connected the flood plane with urban context, stimulating the flows movement, and provided a place for social and cultural bonding and communication.
