Urban Spine

The project faces social segregation in Brazil within the frames of its cultural diversity. It proposes an urban model which combines logical and chaotic elements of urban life. Project explains the essence of “dynamic balance point” in urban planning. It defines the core of “intuitive design” as a tool for culturally integrated design solutions.

In the context of São Paulo favela as a type of living fascinates most by its pulsing, prone to chaos, livability. It’s also cheap, traditional and simple; people understand how it functions. All people are different, and when they build as they want, they also build differently. «Linear favela» proposed by a project is a prototype that not only organizes «chaotic structures» - self built districts - in the city fabric. It also serves as a border between localities. It’s a platform for their interaction that triggers development of smaller communities within the frames of these linear elements. As a result different localities live side by side, but keep their identity due to designated «borders». The solution is a combination of top-down and bottom up approaches and based on low costs. It’s grounded on existing built environment. Any cell (as in biology) needs a cover to function, so that it’s divided from the outside, and it needs a point of enter. In other case it will dissolute in the sea of other substances or will die from the lack of nutrition. Same way any community functions. The CEAGESP market already has a very systematical number of entrances - gates. The Gate can become outstanding, seen from far away element, “identifier” of the locality that is behind it. As points of enter, the gates will create a difference between “inside” and “outside”. The «gate» is the second key element of a project. The key tool that was used to understand cultural background was subconscious hand drawing. A foreign architect has no chance to understand completely the culture for which he creates design. A good logical solution can still be alien to the land. Urban aesthetics that came out of intuitive drawing, appeared to have much in common with traditional Brazilian ornament. Ornament contains the clearest and definite information about the culture in the most abstract way. Coherence of design aesthetic with land ornament is a new urban tool, developed in this project. It allows proposed design to be on this peculiar land culturally, which is crucial in today’s dissolute world, where international kills identical.