The Green Stream
Linear Park
São Paulo, Brazil

The redesign of the Green Stream Linear Park consists of approximately 620,000 sf among dense urban areas in consolidated neighborhoods of São Paulo. The project area traces the path of one branch of the Green River, known as the Green Stream, and presents eccentric spatial qualities resulting from the canalization of the stream in the 1970’s. Alleys, mid-block passages, public steps and vegetation islands are some of the spaces that have been abandoned and flooded.

Dealing with existing conditions in a dense area of the city, the design will be guided by the consolidated urban realities of the area, looking to the past and the present to carve out its vocation. The approach is not of prescriptive planning, but rather a small and limited intervention that could become a sample project to innumerous areas of the city.

The project aims to intervene in the under utilized areas, integrating them, and the stream, back into the daily life of the city. The project will base itself on the following: (1) treatment of horizontal surfaces to unify the park, with repetition of materials and artistic interventions; (2) treatment of horizontal surfaces to enhance pedestrian and bike uses; (3) treatment of the vertical surfaces, so as to emphasize the horizontal planes and also call the user for reflection about the sustainable themes discussed and used in the park; (4) use of water as an urban element and to bring awareness for water related issues in the city; (5) programming with the community around the project area to foster public interaction; (6) use of didactic information panels to explain sustainable systems.