Minhocão - 1 Highway, 2 Realities

The "Elevato President Arturo da Costa" better known as Minhocão, from the portuguese "big worm", is an elevated street that cuts through the center of São Paulo in Brazil to connect the east and west sides of the city. It is a place of an original phenomenon - a vehicular artery during working days and a place for leisurely activities on weekends and holidays.

The idea of ??the Minhocão conversion project came from a long period of research and investigation on site.\nThe construction of the Minhocão was a totalitarian act without popular consensus, driven solely by industrial needs. Hence the necessity of a project that is strongly attentive to the needs of the various involved users and to the history of the Minhocão itself.\nThe project involves the redevelopment of the highline and its conversion into a linear park. The Minhocão Park will be a link between the many polarities of the area that will form a widespread SESC. The SESC is a very common building typology in Brazil which is characterized by offering a variety of spaces for a singular function. The Minhocão complex will therefore be made up of 5 macro-areas with different functions: exhibition area, sports area, theatrical area, craft area and artistic area.\nThe redevelopment of the street also includes the transformation of two plazas and a new range of green spaces to create an interconnected green network. Also, the intervention involves the reuse of the blind facades of the adjacent buildings in green walls with the intention of creating a suggestive and unique experience in a “forest” of giant garden walls.\nThe project provides for an in-depth study of the theatrical area and of the main polarity of it, which is a complex of theatre-spaces in a single building. The design consists of a bridge-building located above the Minhocão Park which becomes an extension of the building itself. This never represents an obstacle for cycle-pedestrian paths that cross the theater without stopping. Also, the project is characterized by a series of bridges that connect the main and secondary blocks of the building. The theater complex consists of 5 halls. Each theater hall is different in size, function, and space. The secondary hall, like many other areas, is characterized by being open but covered space. This type of space has great importance in the project and is used to include the building in the surrounding area, to characterize the complex itself and to mediate the passage from the Minhocão to the actual building.