RAW NATURE, COOKED NATURE
Spring 2015 | Porto Alegre, Brazil | Cornell University
Professor Tao DuFour
Collaboration with Erica Alonzo
In the outskirts of the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, rural migrants live in informal settlements along the Jacui delta, where they collect and recycle the city’s trash. These settlements have led to ecological degradation of the area, and the substandard housing conditions are prone to fires, flooding, and general poor hygiene. The city wants to relocate the migrants to public housing in the inner city, but the migrants refuse to leave their self-built homes, communities, and rural livelihood.
Our design strategy proposes the gradual rezoning of these informal settlements, to provide basic infrastructure to these river settlers in a specific zone while re-wilding/re-foresting areas scarred by human occupation and waste. By shrinking the non-residential boundary of the river and transforming Pavao Island (the island closest to the city) into a liveable zone, the city can re-integrate migrants into society. Rather than forcibly relocating migrants to concrete housing in the city, they should be able to continue their lifestyle on the delta, albeit in safer conditions.
Our proposal outlines a program for incremental housing on Pavao Island. By building recycling sheds on the island near the highway, the migrants will have a place of pride and a stable place of employment. Meanwhile, a series of infrastructural stilts, providing electricity, plumbing, and flood protection, will be incrementally laid out along streets. The migrants can then build their own dwellings on top of the basic infrastructure, allowing for adaptability and community resiliency.
Professor Tao DuFour
Collaboration with Erica Alonzo
In the outskirts of the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, rural migrants live in informal settlements along the Jacui delta, where they collect and recycle the city’s trash. These settlements have led to ecological degradation of the area, and the substandard housing conditions are prone to fires, flooding, and general poor hygiene. The city wants to relocate the migrants to public housing in the inner city, but the migrants refuse to leave their self-built homes, communities, and rural livelihood.
Our design strategy proposes the gradual rezoning of these informal settlements, to provide basic infrastructure to these river settlers in a specific zone while re-wilding/re-foresting areas scarred by human occupation and waste. By shrinking the non-residential boundary of the river and transforming Pavao Island (the island closest to the city) into a liveable zone, the city can re-integrate migrants into society. Rather than forcibly relocating migrants to concrete housing in the city, they should be able to continue their lifestyle on the delta, albeit in safer conditions.
Our proposal outlines a program for incremental housing on Pavao Island. By building recycling sheds on the island near the highway, the migrants will have a place of pride and a stable place of employment. Meanwhile, a series of infrastructural stilts, providing electricity, plumbing, and flood protection, will be incrementally laid out along streets. The migrants can then build their own dwellings on top of the basic infrastructure, allowing for adaptability and community resiliency.