Global Holcim Awards Silver 2012

Urban remediation and civic infrastructure hub, São Paulo, Brazil

Type of project: Building and civil engineering works Start of construction: 2012 Authors: Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner, Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), Brazil Project description This project for a multifunctional public building, Grotão - Escola de Música (music factory), is located in Grotão in the heart of the Paraisópolis favela of São Paulo. With more than 100,000 inhabitants, it is one of the largest informal communities worldwide. Like many favelas, and despite its unusually central location, the area is effectively separated from the formal city and its social and cultural infrastructure. In addition, due to the informal development and the area’s topographic and geological conditions, the site is characterized by increased erosion and dangerous mudslides. The project takes up both of these key challenges, building on intense community participation. The challenging topography is retained and stabilized to prevent further erosion, creating a natural arena in a terraced public space and including a precinct for urban agriculture. Different low-tech features are proposed. A water management system is introduced to use rainwater on site and reuse grey-water. An integrative system for the active and passive use of ventilation, cooling and air conditioning makes use of both, the building and the amphitheater construction. In its vertical structure, the building itself offers various spaces for the music school, including a small concert hall, and also sports facilities, public spaces, and transport infrastructure. In the vicinity, residential buildings augment housing reserves and frame the arena. Hubert Klumpner: “An educational example” Project co-author Hubert Klumpner explains that the multifunctional community center in the Paraisópolis favela of São Paulo demonstrates a leading approach to ecological, social and economic sustainability that is interesting in terms of the interplay between each objective. The structure itself addresses land slippage and flooding issues in a basin which fills with water during the wet season. The intervention designed by Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) is supported by the City of São Paulo to create an environmental center and cultural center focused upon perhaps one of Latin America’s greatest exports – music. The benefit of the building is far greater than the sum of its physical parts. Since 2011, local legislation encourages sustainable construction approaches that make use of alternative energies and urban planning. This site will create a traffic hub in connection to the street and new infrastructure, will act as a social hub, and is a tangible example of sustainable building techniques including photovoltaic electricity generation, water recycling, wind energy systems, and the use of recycled construction waste within cast concrete to form the terraces and gardens of the new site. This site is a window into the future of how the development of Grotão could proceed if sustainable construction approaches and technologies are implemented.