VIZAFOGÓ PARK AND PAVILION
The primary motivation behind the realization of this project was to improve the livability and the quality of life in the neighborhood by increasing the presence of environmentally and ecologically significant elements in the area. The park is located on a unique post-industrial site wedged between the Vizafogo prefabricated housing block and the new Agora office buildings. Even though the de-industrialization of the area began in the late 20th century with projects like the socialist Vizafogo housing block and continued into the 2000s with large developments such as the Agora office complex, the former site of the industrial railways remains vacant to this day.
The Mayor’s Office stepped up, as encouraged by the local community, and changed the zoning of the site, thus allowing for the Vizafogo Park project to be materialized. The park is a combination of unique features that cater for various recreational activities. Its central organizing attribute is an asymmetrically shaped lake, which has an ecologically self-cleaning ability thanks to the biodiverse plant-life scattered along its shore, and it has the capacity to improve the local microclimate, too. The pavilion found its place on a lightweight pier reaching into the lake. The sawtooth pergola and the compact wooden cafe house underneath it lends the pavilion a distinctive character, setting it apart from its more robust surroundings.
The aspiration of creating a park that benefits both the local ecology and the community was also carried into the design of the Vizafogo Pavilion, where both the materiality and the building technology played an important role in positioning the building as an extension of the sustainable ideology of the park.
