Themes - GSD Cantinho do Céu Studio in São Paulo
Although the intention was to run a studio about new forms of favela upgrading without much preconceptions, instructors developed in the preparation phase of this studio a set of themes that will dominate the discussion.
Landscape and Public Space- The studio uses landscape and public space as the particular lens through which to examine and develop Cantinho do Céu. Its sensitive location on the reservoir, its minor connection to urban landscape infrastructure, such as public transportation, sewers, water supply, or storm water management; its environmental, public health, and security problems; its lack of public facilities for economic, cultural, or recreational activities ask for a landscape based approach. The main focus of the studio is not the construction of housing; favela dwellers are actually quite capable to construct their own houses, but less so their public space. Therefore landscape is conceived both as the primary problem and as the main opportunity for intervention and improvement. It has to be stressed that a landscape based approach in a city is inseparable from architectural interventions; students from the architecture department are quite needed in this studio. There are plenty of opportunities to develop architecture deeply embedded in a landscape based framework such as replacement housing, schools, hospitals, sewage treatment plants, hotels, community centers or recreational structures.
Alternative Infrastructure – In traditional favela upgrading projects urban and landscape design is often cosmetically laid over traditional engineering technologies as a result of the disassociation of civil engineering and design. Civil engineers oversee the installation of urban infrastructure like potable water, sewage lines, transportation structures, electricity, erosion and drainage control. The upgrade of non-formal cities with basic services is viewed as the highest priority and typically performed by civil engineers and not designers.
Cantinho do Céu is facing some of the more traditional engineering solutions. It is planned to pump sewage to far away locations, to import electricity from great distances and to transport garbage to distant landfills. There is a proposal to handle drainage through a wide stormwater trench that surrounds the whole peninsula. Obviously there is an opportunity to upgrade informal cities with less resource wasting infrastructure. Thus the studio will seek the deep integration of modern civil engineering and design by inserting alternative infrastructures that are oriented on closed-loop thinking, income production and benefits such as recreation, education or food production.
It is expected that students will intimately familiarize themselves with alternative technologies of their interest in the first phase of the studio as part of their tactic investigation. A team of environmental engineering experts will support the students in their individual pursuits. The results of last year’s spring semester seminar GSD6445 Green Infrastructure in the Non-formal City will serve as a starting point.
Water - will be a dominant topic for the studio as the most contested issue on site. In Cantinho do Céu topics like the import of potable water and export of sewage, the rainfall and drainage patterns, stormwater and erosion problems, the irrigation of agriculture and the economic and recreational value of the reservoir have to be studied. The reservoir itself will be studied in its history, utility, contamination and recreational, ecological and cultural value. We will investigate the watershed of the reservoir and its future development. Modern water management technologies such as sewage treatment wetlands, cleaning walls, aquaculture, retention basins, living machines, etc. can be tested for their applicability in non-formal conditions. Several studio mentors and instructors have extensive experience in alternative water management and can give students realistic technical input on their design explorations.
Stigmatization - Favelas are considered to be blemishes in the urban fabric. For most Brazilians favelas are forbidden territory; blind spots in the city map. Outsiders rarely venture into those areas, because of actual and perceived dangers. Brazilian papers are full of crime stories in favelas. For citizens who have never set foot in a favela, it is hard to separate fact from myth. To give an example: informal cities are held responsible for the majority of pollution even though industry and middle class produce higher rates. In this climate it is often overlooked that the majority of favela dwellers are hard-working people who try to climb up the social ladder. Visitors of favelas are often surprised how well structured some of the settlements are. Especially Cantinho do Céu surprises many visitors with its fairly consistent street layout, many tidy houses and commercial strip that houses even pet food stores. There are many types of informal cities at different stages of development that cannot be lumped together under one term. For informal cities that are on their way of improvement, the stigmatization can be the last great hurdle to achieve full integration. Especially Cantinho do Céu has the potential to grow into a very successful city through its scenic location on the reservoir. There is potential for tourism and recreational infrastructure; but even with perfect infrastructure in place not many citizens from the formal city of São Paulo would venture there. The overcoming of the stigmatization effect is one of the great unsolved problems of favela upgrading. The studio participants will be challenged to invent creative tactics to mitigate this problem such as the invention of innovative program elements that will equally draw people from São Paulo as from Cantinho do Céu.
Informal Urbanism as a Model – informal cities are also stigmatized in design circles; they are typically seen as minor cities that need major work. It is often overlooked that much can be learnt from informal urbanism. The established favelas in São Paulo are vibrant and full of people that intensively use the small amount of open space that exists. Without any planning, they consist of an accretion of small scale neighborhoods where people know each other well. Their morphology, not unlike medieval towns, is shaped by the small movements of pedestrians resulting in narrow alleyways, stairs and foot paths, - an intimacy and resourcefulness the formal city has lost. Often there are not many proper streets, rendering car use unattractive since there is not much space to drive or to park. Many favelas can be effectively served by innovative public transportation (like cable cars in Medellin) due to their high population density. Informal cities are flexible in build-out and use. Informal urbanism has its own economy in “mixed zones” where living and working can occur in the same building. This flexibility can be also noticed in the internal build-out: informal cities grow vertically by adding living space on top of the house. Therefore this studio will not treat informal cities as urbanistic malfunctions but will try to work with its potentials.
Poetry – besides all the problems and contested issues there is great poetry in Cantinho do Céu; the young population, the dense city draped over the undulating hills, the lake, its light and reflections, the vistas over the reservoir. It is a goal of the studio that the designs, even when they have to deal with hard core issues like sewage, replacement housing, garbage, transportation etc. advance and bring to light this poetry, - otherwise the work of the designer has failed and is better done by civil engineers. In this quest, the participants of the studio have to explore how the inhabitants of Cantinho do Céu understand poetry, beauty and attractiveness; an understanding which not necessarily coincides with one’s own.