Slow / Fast Landscape

2007

The project is structured by various scales, rhythms, and evolution times.  It is an opportunity to transform a “non-place” into a space of increased value for the social, urban and natural environment of Santo Tirso. Using local culture, ecology and tradition as construction guidelines, together with sustainable and integrated design methods, the space was morphed into a living organism that regenerates part of the city in a contemporary park/city context. The structured public spaces with a new natural/urban image and function are the heart of the organism and the interaction base for all parts of the project – built, non-built, functional, pre-existing, natural, biological, human…
The park, conceived as a biological and moistness gradient, promotes ecological niches that explore the local and new plant’s polyvalence while stimulating biodiversity. Complemented with a web of environmentally friendly equipments, pathways, and programs (educational, cultural, recreational, etc.), the natural structure, while connecting to its surroundings, guarantees the park’s attractiveness, and economical, social and environmental sustainability.
The buildings – multifunctional dwellings for urban life with sustainable management – assure permanent public space life while complementing its design in a new dimension with form and function.
It is a place that unravels itself as the user, while reading between the lines and through various velocities, perceives the whole, consequently becoming an active element in the landscape.

2008-2015

In 2008 the Municipality commissioned the team to develop a series of projects: the urban park of Ribeiro do Matadouro; the plant nursery centre; and the environmental workshop building. The rest of the projects asked in the competition programme were put aside due to lack of land ownership and funding issues.
They began developing the projects and in 2009 a first prior study was approved by the municipalities.
In 2010, the team started to work on the detailed project for the urban park – phase 1 (the southern extremity of the land). The rest of the projects were put on hold due to financial and proprietorship reasons. In the same time the concept for the urban-park – phase 1 – was made part of a large scale urban development plan, alongside other urban space projects in Santo Tirso, to obtain public European funding for the implementation phases. The urban plan’s title was “Inventar a Cidade” – “To Invent the City”. The funding was emitted and in 2011 the implementation phase could start.
During the construction phase of the Park, the Municipality commissioned the team for the plant nursery centre, having felt that it would be a positive programme element to add to the urban park. The project was developed and was to be implemented in a future construction phase, but unfortunately, due to changes in the prioritization of municipal strategies, the project was cancelled.
In 2014 the team began to develop the rest of the projects: the urban park – phase 2 (northern extension of the land) and a Youth Centre – a programme for the refurbishment of an existing building on the eastern part of the site and that replaced the environmental workshop building asked in the previous competition programme. The intervention/concept programme was presented and approved by the municipality. Some elements were added to the park’s programme like: community gardens and building facilities complimentary to usage of these gardens. At the present day, spring 2015, the team is working on the detailed study of these projects. They also try to involve the community (such as local associations, institutions, inhabitants) since the design to the construction phase in order to better enrich the project with the users experience.

2011-2013

Concerning the first phase urban park’s design, little was changed in terms of the overall concept that was developed in the competition phase. Mostly there was a detailed design adaptation of the project elements, using integrated design methods, together with building materials and systems chosen during the study phase. It was an opportunity to transform a “non-place” into a space of quality for the social, urban and natural environment of the city. Using local culture, ecology and tradition as construction guidelines, together with sustainable and integrated design methods, an urban park emerged, reviving the sites natural/urban identity. All in all this project can be understood through its main design layers:

01) The “Living Ground”, conceived as a biological/moistness gradient that promotes ecological niches exploring the local and new plant’s polyvalence while stimulating biodiversity. To enrich the living experience throughout the dry and humid zones, trees and low vegetation were added accordingly to enrich biodiversity, colour, texture and movement.

02) The “Active Mesh” is a structured layout of pathways with diverse expressions that provide “motion” at different velocities characterized through the known symbols: PLAY, STOP, PAUSE and FASTFOWARD. The more interpretive ones are elevated platforms that grant ground level permeability for water and fauna, while promoting the ecological importance of the site.

03) The “Interpretive Sculptures” are interactive urban elements, generators of multifunctional space appropriation, that assure permanent public space life while having integrated into their design all public space equipment. These sculptures, origami inspired, contrast with the vegetation in colour and geometry.

04) The “Dwellers” consist of the people as active elements in this environment.

The park, phase 1, opened to the public in 2013.