Urban and Environmental Requalification of the Park of Choupal and Ermida, side of the River Sizandro and Pátio Alfazema

INTRODUCTION

The redevelopment project concerns the intervention on 3 areas (park of Choupal and Ermida, the banks of the river Sizandro and the Pátio Alfazema). The landscape enhancement of the existing park, the connection of the banks of the Sizandro river through two bridges that allow pedestrian and cycle circulation, together with the valorization of the water line and the reconversion of a degraded urban area were the  main objectives of this intervention.

The redevelopment of Choupal Park, emblematic place of the city with a strong historical value, has been redesigned in a contemporary key, through the integration of new and existing elements, the creation of new relationships between green and built, the inclusion of important features of the program that contribute to create a strong and recognizable identity of space. The individual parts work in a system, building a unique and uniform image, which sets out the immediate context and reinforces the historical image, sufficiently sculptural to constitute a reference space able to host different activities (stop, snacks, cycle paths, social activities  outdoor, ...)

CONCEPTUAL PROPOSAL AND ITS MATERIALIZATION

The border constituted by the surrounding context of the area has determined the reference levels of articulation between the built and the natural pre-existences and the reconfiguration of the National Road and the search for a connecting surface between the built edge and the initial location of the underground water line. Thus, the intervention proposal, conscious of the necessity of preservation and conservation of the natural elements, has made the internal soil manipulable according to the research of a previous layer in the evolution of the landscape, as if an elastic surface was deformed to make it touch in points of precise reference. This manipulable surface is therefore deformed in every point where there is a relation of height to be respected (above all, the trees of the place, the poplars -Choupos, which give the toponym). This plastic and "deforming" conceptual approach gave rise to a microtopography that allowed excavations and carry-overs necessary to the altimetric link and to the contact with the water line. The conceptual proposal has materialized in a modeling of land in which the area surrounding each tree or structure has been deformed, on the basis of elliptic shapes deriving from the projection of the roots to be preserved, until reaching a link with the reference level.

The pedestrian links that cross the park and the redevelopment of the banks of the river are decisive for urban redevelopment, allowing the use of recovered spaces and their inclusion in new city routes.

MAINTENANCE AND DURABILITY

All design choices have tried to reconcile the needs of a municipal management space: ease and low maintenance cost, resistance to vandalism and overloading, survival of the characteristic image of the park even in conditions of poor maintenance, security and surveillance facilitated by strategies for the localization of equipment, lighting and visual permeability.

WATER SYSTEM

In addition to enhancing the scenic quality of the entire area, the Park has assumed an important function of ecological corridor, promoting the balance of ecosystems and ensuring ecological continuity of the part of the Sizandro river in cohabitation with the surrounding areas, mainly urban.

The enhancement of the banks of the Sizandro, through the plant covering for fixing against erosive agents, and the re-naturalization of the Amiais torrent have had indisputable impacts in the biodiversity support system, creating favorable conditions for the good functioning of the river ecosystem at local scale.

The good drainage of the rainwater has been safeguarded by the development of technical conditions appropriate to the reception and conduct of the water through the creation of permeable areas that favor the infiltration of water into the ground and the execution of a drainage network.