Over the past 100 years Sao Paulo’s rapid growth and demand for efficiency has driven its waterways underground and simplified its river system into three hard-edged channels. This culvert system exacerbates Sao Paulo’s severe flooding and water quality problems and distances public activities from water processes.
This project proposes a system of urban hydrological infrastructure that reintroduces the meander to the site in order to create a soft place in Sao Paulo where water processes are once again visible and invite public access. Performatively, the proposed water infrastructure system provides flood relief, water filtration, and irrigation for urban rice cultivation. An aqueduct draws storm water away from the low-lying Anhangabau of the city center, and serves as a filter along its length. Cleansed by the time it reaches the building, the water is diverted through the site and used as irrigation for rice paddies. Low-lying rice paddies can become inundated with water and provide flood relief when they need to.
The resulting active landscape serves as a new space for the city, where public recreation, transportation and a marketplace are woven into the spaces of food cultivation and hydrological process.
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