Favela Vernacular in the Urban Frontier

by Zachary Aders

Architectural vernacular, or the building as manifestation of a utilitarian purpose, is historically unique in its wide range of means of expression, reflecting specific conditions of time and place. The Brazilian favela, which appeared in the late 20th century, is a modern vernacular that takes on a new definition of place, capitalizing on opportunities of informal development due to multiple levels of historical neglect from the public and private sectors.
Historic models of utilitarian construction show the local population’s use of immediate building materials in response to climate and topography as the main influence in the expression of a built work. Often erected by the dwellers themselves, popular historic images of vernacular housing bring to mind the curved formations of bent branches or compacted masses of mud or snow. In the twentieth century, as housing was increasingly commercialized and materially detached from the local context, a shift is clear in the means of formal expression from local to outsourced. In the most salient model of commercialized housing, the suburban United States, the disconnect from the end user is most apparent, which gave way to rapid construction as the house became a more generic object determined by material and labor costs. The favela is an interesting combination of this historic and modern contrast of vernacular expression. The in-flux of rural immigrants to urban centers and the ease of construction permitted a faster development of favelas, which rivals that of U.S. subdivisions. The structures, as determined by the most inexpensive materials (mainly cast-in-place concrete and hollow brick), are ultimately formed by the specific needs of the end user, who is directly involved in the construction process. Family size determines the initial and ever-changing form, which expands with each generation. Outside regular land tenure and zoning, the areas of occupation avoid typical commercial-based development, while the dimension of time, of familial growth, is what shapes the favela.

The context in which the favela is constructed is the greatest point of divergence from most other vernacular housing typologies. Remote or otherwise uninhabited locations are the condition in which most historic and modern vernacular housing is located, as it has largely been associated with the expanding of frontiers. In the case of the favela, opposite movement is occurring, as the modern frontiersman moves from the rural to the urban in a global trend, which is rapidly shifting demographics. The new margin of developed territory is within the city. The typical favela grows in the “in-between” spaces of highly developed areas in an attempt to fill in the undesired land that has been ignored by developers, while remaining close to public services and places of work. This unique condition of informally integrating rural immigrants into highly developed and populated areas creates a dynamic of social exclusion within close physical proximity. Interaction between the informal favela and the surrounding formal city largely consists of a co-exploitation of this marginalized condition, through the exchange of free development and (partial) infrastructure for the neglect of formal infrastructure, education, and other public resources.
However dire some conditions may be, they foster the misconception that the favela is a place of rampant poverty and misery. While lower economic classes occupy the favelas, residents are most often employed, and earn incomes averaging one to five times the minimum wage. Self-driven economies of real estate and commercial activity vitalize the favela, as banks, fast food, and franchise retail stores have already moved in. This high degree of physical and economic development further validates the need for integration into the surrounding formal city through the installation of formal infrastructure, a fact which current municipalities are highly aware of, and working to mitigate.
S.L.U.M. Lab works with the Secretariat of Habitation in São Paulo to expand on their research and projects in favelas, testing theories and suggesting trade-offs, continually asking the question of what is the mediation between the systems of the informal and formal and what new approaches could be implemented. As cities in Brazil continue growing at the high rate of urbanization, informal settlements will continue to grow into the surrounding city. The way in which the informal settlements and the city dismantle the present marginalizing conditions will largely decide the success of the merge of each side into the other, and hopefully legitimize a new favela vernacular.

The proposal to support the slum, or the brasilian favela, is a linear urban farm model intended to largely self-sustain local food necessity by creating agricultural space on available unused surfaces and air. The project’s intention is to design a system which is reactive to and has little physical impact on the existing ultra-high density favela, while providing an organic presence in the community. The system would be built following the existing structural syntax of the immediate area, and run by the faveladores with local NGO’s.

The system logic is primarily concerned with introducing a responsive network of infrastructural connections with agricultural production which extends throughout the neighborhood of Grotao. The system’s nascency is based on the nature of favela growth, of decentralized growth in high redundancy, subjected to a continual evolution of forms. The system attempts a new way of mapping existing resources and physical conditions of the site while drawing the most productive connections between the houses.

The networked system seeks to spread infrastructure resources across the favela, generating a mesh with connective integrity by virtue of the system’s redundant nature. Growing from the inside out, strategic connections are made to network resources in efficiency of the specified parameters.

Spatial Information provided by São Paulo Municipality
All Houses in Grotão

Concept Sketches

Mapping Resources

Prototype Plans

System Section Diagram @ Favela Roof
This system basically extends the existing columns of the built favela houses, and inserts its own columns where needed, in between neighboring walls, which would form an expanding rigid network structure across the neighborhood. The upper level provides an urban farm while networking infrastructural services.

Visualization

Filmatic studies of urban conditions in New York City complemented the household studies and connections between the two were posited. In short videos, three distinct urban conditions of NYC were documented and calibrated by speed and direction of movement through the urban spaces. By studying the relationships between population density, spatial compression, movement, and the boundaries in which they function, we can reach understandings of what it means to feel confined or free.

Strategy for Wind-Harvesting Facade

Volumetric studies were tested by extruding the optimal site area and trimming the shape to optimize performance of light, wind, and views. The circle enclosed by the buildings (see plans) is a preserved park for which the light and views were optimized.
Wind : the volume is optimized for maximum wind channeling and harvest via surface geometry.
Views : The largest, most direct corridors aligned toward park and river spaces are optimized to preserve views for the existing buildings on site.
Light : The volume is adjusted for maximum southern light penetration, which augments toward the afternoon.

This section illustrates three spaces created by gaps in the aggregation of units, which were directly informed by the previous performative massing studies. Gaps designated as communal spaces occur at the intersections of optimal vectors light and view. Smaller gaps hold wind turbines, which collect wind at points determined by the fluid dynamics studies. The slight S curve of the overall section turns forward and backward across the building, changing the surface geometry to effectively funnel wind at specific points of concentration. This direct response to the shape of the surrounding context shapes the surface of the building while optimizing energy harvesting.

3dsmax animation by Zachary Aders and Katie Shima from katie shima on Vimeo.

“Perceiving Boundaries” by Zachary Aders and Katie Shima (short version) from katie shima on Vimeo.