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27.05.10 Conference Dans le cadre du cours du Professeur Tomás Lapa MDU Programa de Pós-Graduação en Desenvolvimento Urbano Universidade Federal do Pernambuco, Brasill

26.04.10 Video Conference École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Universidade Federal do Pernambuco Dans le Cadre de l'Unité d'Enseignement du Professeur Pierre Frey (ACM) Ville du Sud, Eau et Architecture: Quelles Perspectives d'Action pour les Professionnels de l'Environnement Construit?

Abstract:

My Master of Architecture at the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPF Lausanne) was the opportunity to initiate a Research-Action about the sanitation inside of a poor urban community of Recife, Brazil. This community, called Chico Mendes, faces the common sanitation crisis of the « planet Favelas » (Mike Davis):  the everyday lack of  sanitation. Through a participative process, this project aims to reveal this problematic into the community, to understand the cultural, the materiel and organisation limits and to activate the available resources in order to generate inside solutions.


This initiative takes place in the project « Negocio em Casa » leaded by the NGO « Habitat para a Humanidade ». During 6 months, I run a field work which allowed to discuss this subject with the three main actors: the inhabitants, which take part of the project « Negocio em Casa », the association of Chico Mendes and the collaborators of the NGO. These discussions made to overcome of the cultural borders possible and revealed this subject as a  priority. All this capital process has been recorded and described in the video documentary « Habitar em Chico Mendes ».


In spite of  this awareness, the project faced the lack of affordable and appropriate solutions. That's why, the second part of the master, which takes place in Switzerland, tended to investigate the opportunities of a EcoSan concept to link the reality of the community with a strategical process to confront the problem.
The architectural proposal presented for this Master is an illustration of a decentralised  treatment of grey water, urine, faces and organic waste for a community of 5 thousand inhabitants using diverting toilet and cocomposting.  The goal was to integrate the engineering part of the programme (sorting, composting, packing areas) with a area of awareness about EcoSan concept (Gardening, restaurant, meeting room). The result, called « Centro Chico Mendes » should offer besides, an articulation between the informal area of the community and the avenue Recife which links to the formal city.


Despite that this proposal take a relative distance with the financial, organisational and cultural reality of the community, it is seen as a tool of discussion to initiate a debate about the EcoSan perspectives with the intention of going on the field work.