Territoriality and abstraction: between the Quilombo do Saracura and the Parque da Grota

Abstract

This article analyzes the Parque da Grota project, coordinated by architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha between 1973 and 1974. It focuses on the project’s dialogue with the pre-existing reality of the Saracura area in Bixiga, São Paulo, and the multiple layers involved in that process. This urban renovation plan was part of a broader chain of institutionalized planning and funding for housing and infrastructure works at the core of the spatial production mechanisms of Brazil’s military dictatorship. Thus, it was inherently characterized by the
displacement of populations and the replacement of much of the built environment in that area, and it specifically targeted an important Black territory in the city, the Quilombo Saracura, a direct descendant. This study aims to examine the ambiguous ways in which such social tension was addressed in the project presented by the architects and consultants, in order to reflect—through this specific case—on the stakes, limits, and internal contradictions within the disciplinary field of architecture.