VIEWING THE CITY SÁO PAULO

Day 1 [6th of April]


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Cantinho do ceu

First day with the group we went to a Project where SEHAB was working on the slum Cantinho de Ceu this was a slum what was directly beside a lake off the region off Sao Paulo therefore it is very strange there are slums and not more luxury's housing. A hypnotise is that 25 years ago the place was far away from the city with a bad infrastructure. Knowing this is a Good location the question is how long the Slum is staying here and is replace with luxury's housing, therefore maybe it is not really a good thing there is a new infrastructure thru where the Housing rates are going up.

Interesting thing also is the way the are trying to make a park at the border off the lake, this way there is a buffer between the lake and the houses so when the water is higher the housing will not be floated, off course this is a good thing but people how where living there are now moved away hopefully in the same favela. Making a way to witstand this floats are also a good alternative example good be a embankment or housing on columns or higher ground.

TECHNICAL ANGLE

Housing block off 25x5 metre
Building typology :

1á2 building stories hight
Concrete columns with brick fillings
some housing is plastered and than also painted
windows and fencing are commen
electricity is present
water, sewerage is present or being build

Day 2 [7th of April]


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Paraisopolis
Ceu of Pantanal
Jardim Pantanal

Day Two was also a day that where going to a favales "Paraisopolis" this is one or maybe the biggest slum off Sao Paulo. Also there SEHAB is doing more than one project, mostly to try to make the infrastucture better but when it is nessesay there will be a social housing project for people how can not be (re)located inside off the favela.

Interested was that were a interfention was made the houses where directly inproved, here you can see people are getting more convinced the there will be not demolished. This part of the favela is the "older" part is now 25 years old and evolved, inhabitants are still improving and decorating there homes but building is not very common in this part. on the other side of the favela is a new site with the first settlements of wood and steel wave plate, this place is the last to occupy because off risk off flooding.

TECHNICAL ANGLE

site I
1á2á3 building stories hight
Concrete columns with brick fillings
some housing is plastered and than also painted
electricity, water is present
sewerage is on the moment getting build

site II
1 storie buildings
Wood and steel waveplates
no flooring
no doors or windows
no infrastructure

Day 3 [8th of April]

Alphaville
Conjunto National

After 2 interesting lectures in the morning we went to a place called alphaville this is a "little" city and is a more seen concept of dwelling called Gated Community's the strange thing is that it is a world up side down the people how are supposed to be free are behind fences and the "unsafe" people walking freely outside the fence, this concept is a reaction a the great money differences where the rich people are becoming scared of humans that are not the same as there one. the neighborhood wasn't that spectectulare only that there were only villa's off 2 / 3.000.000 Real. the more important part was the gate where standing for 30 min. before we could enter the City. After the City where went to a private shopping mall with same concept as the city interesting is when you can get inside and when your not allowed after this we had a very nice building visit at the Contunto with a overview off the city.

Day 4 [9th of April]

Lectures at SEHAB
Downtown visit

A Lecture from Elisabette Franca about the different kinds off slum was interesting but was really off viewing point of the SEHAB People and governementeel thinking therefore there was little room for discussion, the social housing there were presenting was in the typology off the 70' of the Netherlands. In the afternoon we had a excursion underneath the highway viaducts where there where 3 project one was a social come to getter and recycling cooperation's.

My impression after a week

After nearly a week in Sao Paulo I've noticed three different cities.

First there's the city of the future, a city of bold and new ideas and infinite confidence in progress. The architecture of this city responds to the present as if it was seen from the future.The most recent future I've seen so far in Sao Paulo is Rino Levi's FIESP-CIESP-SESI building on Paulista Avenue, a radical brutalist reinterpretation of the skyscraper. It dates from 1979.

The second city is the city of the present. This is the city of favelas and other illegal settlements. They are extremely flexible. Migration is high, investments are low. This city is in a permanent state of now. It doesn't plan a future, it doesn't look at the past. It simply responds to changing conditions in a bedazzling pace. Months, not years. As Cantinho do Ceu's lake shores get cleared from any development, business will first decrease as a response to having fewer customers. No sooner than the planned park along the shores is in place will business anticipate to the commercial opportunities linked to it.

The third is the city of the past. It's the city of paranoia, of people locking themselves up behind fences and reflecting in their architecture eras of which they believe things were better. 19th Century Parisian architecture is stretched to a hundred meter tall and Greek temples are scaled up to giant shopping boxes to forcefully fit the current context of the metropolis.

Marcia vive

My favorite SP picture today. This girl was killed while cycling at Avinida Paulista earlier this year. She was ran over by a bus.

Dear all, in relation to our discussion about the weekend program I suggest that you take a look at this link to the website with the winners of the IAB (Institute for Brazilian Architects) design awards for architecture and urban design in São Paulo.
It are so many projects that it looks as if they have awarded all Paulistan architects, but in any case it gives an interesting overview of fresh contemporary architecture in São Paulo.
OK, enough said, this is the link: http://www.iabsp.org.br/concurso.asp?ID=114

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