BEACH OF BRÁS, SÃO PAULO
THREE STRATEGIES TO PLAN THE CHAOS

At the first sight, São Paulo seems a city without public power. The chaos model, in which individual decisions determine the collective route, is well established here. Once everybody knows that the government does not make anything, the population learned to take care of its own interests.

The society based on the collective individualism is manifest in the urban landscape, as for example in the apparent absence of a collective space. In the rich neighborhoods there are private public spaces, shopping centers and closed condominiums, where people can consume, amuse themselves or find friends with the same consumption power.

To people who do not usufruct of the services supplied by private initiative, remain for its social interaction options as the streets, terminals of bus and religious spaces, very common in the poor neighborhoods, mainly in the periphery.

In contrast to Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo is scarce in what relates to natural landscape. It does not have maritime beaches, almost does not make use of parks and, when it is the case, these are surrounded to block the entrance of beggars and street children.

Brás is a traditionally industrial neighborhood, with almost no shopping centers, closed condominiums or attractive parks. The public space is limited to asphalt for circulation and cement for parking, load and dump.

We want to introduce a new type of collective space in Brás, the neighborhood deserves its “beach”. We have three strategies to obtain this.

1.To reconquest space

The available space is completely taken by cars, trucks and buses. We will retake a stretch, in the diactivated cinema, that is turned into parking lot.

2.Double fruition of the space (in function of time)

In front of the stores there is a space to park, for load and dump. Outside office hours, this space can be used to games and sports: a gymnasium in the street.

3.To create a new space

The verticalization of the street is the most drastic way to create more space. With a construction in form of table, we can even supply a swimming pool to Brás.

1.To reconquest space (Cineparking)

In 1941, the Cine Piratininga was one of the major cinema theaters in Brazil. Today, it is turned into a parking lot for 120 cars. The roof disappeared. The walls and balcony, with space for hundreds of people, are still there. Our cineparking was already ready to use before having appeared the idea.

It only lacks to organize the programming and propaganda. Experiences in Berlin and Rotterdam prove that a outdoors cinema or a drive thru cinema can have commercial success. There’s still surplus space for a stage and thus we can also organize theater, music or dance spectacles. Part of the auditorium can turn into lawn (a log time extinct vegetation in Brás), so that the visitors can seat or play football.

2. Double use in time (the gymnasium in the street)

Where is much activity during the day - load, dump and parking - nothing happen after office hours. These places, the wide sidewalk, are empty after that the store grids close. They stay vacant for more the half of the time and therefore we propose a second use. We can paint in the sidewalk the parking bands and sportive squares that are used in the gymnasiums: all with different colors, for footesal, volley, tennis and cars. During the night and on Sundays they have a public sports field, to competitions and matches.

3.To create a new space (swimming-poolduct)

If there is no more public space available, we can create more, verticalizing. A Street in top of a street. The platform that usually is installed in Av. Paulista during Christmas time could be “parked” during the remaining of the year in Av. Rangel Pestana. Here we will inaugurate our neighborhood swimming pool, with a little beach of white sand, palms and a bar opened for everybody.

Forest of Brás

The three proposed interventions are located to the side of the viaduct over the railroad, that goes until Brás / Roosevelt Station and Praça da Concórdia, the poor people shopping center. The viaduct is the noble entrance to our “beach”. It will be planted with lines of imperial palms of the poor: bamboo. The existing food tents bellow the viaduct stay there and will form a beautiful alimentation square of the Forest of Brás.

SOS Child: maintenance and programming

The “management” of Brás Beach will be in the hands of the SOS-Child. The organization headquarters are in Av. Rangel Pestana, in the same block that the Cineparking. Kids are the true specialists in public spaces, multiuse of space and alternative programming for the collective domain. They are our main users and also they can assemble the programming of sports, theater, cinema and other manifestations. The SOS Child organizes specializing courses that can become service supplying: hair dressing, graphical, cinematography, sewing ateliers and theater school.

Schie 2.0 e Urban Fabric

Ton Matton, Lucas Verweij, Jan Konings, Stefan Werrer, Morgan Lumen e Paul Meurs