Critical analysis of PILOT PLAN BRASILIA

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PILOT PLAN BRASILIA

National Institute of Technology Calicut| Department of Architecture and Planning | M. Plan Monsoon Semester 2021|Planning Principles and Techniques | Lavanya K P , M210089AR

Brasilia

is the federal capital of Brazil. Brasilia has population of 4727902 making it the fourth largest city in Brazil. Area of the city was – 2245 sq. miles ( 5814 sq. m). ➢ It is listed as world heritage site by UNESCO. In 1987. It also holds the shortest time period to get in UNESCO heritage site, 27 years after its completion in 1960.

It -

is the third capital of Brazil.

Salvador( 1549- 1763) Rio de Janeiro (1763 – 1960) In 1960 it formally became Brazil's capital.

➢ The city was planned and developed in 1956. Lucio costa – Principal Urban planner and Oscar Neimer – Principal architect. ➢ Major Government buildings are designed by Niemeyer The landscape and layout planned by designer Roberto Burle.

Brazil (Country) Goias ( State) Brasilia ( City)

HISTORY ➢ During 1763-1960 period Resources tended to be centered in Brazil’s South East region near Rio de Janeiro. But geographically Brasilia is in the central location. ➢ During 1891 decided to shift the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the place close to center of the country. ➢ Plan was originally conceived in 1827 by Jose Bonifacio Advisor to Emperor Pedro I. The bill was not enacted because Pedro I dissolved the Assembly. ➢ In 1956 to 1961, The president of Brazil ordered the construction of Brasilia. ➢ Brasilia was built in 41 Months ( three and half years) From 1956 to April 1960. On 21 April 1960 It was officially inaugurated. ➢ The planning process of city is associated with the implementation of the first National Road Plan (1951), promoting access and occupation of the hinterlands.

A map with Brasília commanding the center

Lucio Costa , Oscar Neimer

AIMS OF PLANO PILOTO -

Ideal city, Ideal society.

Symbol of Brazilian greatness, something that would attract attention.

Lead to the development of the central region of Brazil.

Plan intended to provide Brasilia with dignity of a capital city.

Capital city without the colonial legacy, without baroque and classical architecture, without slums, Something that happened in Rio.

PLANNING CONCEPT -

From the air Plano Piloto Resembles the shape of an airplane or a bird with open wings.

There was already plans for the artificial lake.

The city gained the shape of an aero plane symbolizing the fastest way out of town.

Brasilia has two axis crossing at right angle, Monumental axis (The fuselage of the plane) Intersecting in the centre of the city with a residential axis (Wings of an airplane) The functions were arranged in : Monofunctional zoning Concept.

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Residential districts have been placed along the curved axis.

At the northwestern end of the Monumental Axis are federal district and municipal buildings, while at the southeastern end, near the middle shore of Lake Paranoá, stand the executive, judicial, and legislative buildings around the Square of Three Powers.

Civic and administrative centre, recreation centre, the barracks, the storages and supply zones, Cultural zone small local industries sites and the railway station along the monumental axis.

Banking and commercial districts fell alongside the intersection of monumental and high way Location of the entertainment centre is along the intersection of the monument and the back axis.

Monumental axis Curved axis Back axis

Four scales of design

Monumental scale of design ( Symbolic ) - The plaza of three powers are designed - The cathedral - wide avenues of six lanes( In each direction) the esplanade for ministries and public buildings Residential scale ( Comfortable, Quotidian) Orderly super blocks with a uniform height of six stories Gregarious scale ( social) - The bus station, airport, Railways, High ways - Club- Horse, Golf, Yacht.

- The entertainment- Cinema theatre and restaurants, Commerce and retail sectors.

- Cemetery.

Bucolic scale ( park city, rustic) - Recreational – Zoo, Botanical garden, Exhibition ground, Sports. Brasilia park city

MONUMENTAL AXIS

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The modernist architecture on grand scale, City remains great and admired all over the world.

Symbolic capital city , source of hope and pride.

Monumental scale of the buildings - symbolises power and strength of the new capital , disconnects human experience aspect. monumental public spaces - served as iconic symbols - alienating visitors functionally failed.

Drives land use for having produced mild cases of population dispersion.

Brazilian cities rarely had central plazas Its bold monumentality demonstrated how Brazil wanted to be perceived by the world: a progressive power.

GREEN AREAS

➢ Botanical gardens, The zoological gardens beyond - These two vast green spaces, symmetrically laid out in relation to the city’s monumental axis, will serve as the city’s lungs. ➢ Ample green cover controls pollution as well as provides privacy and experiential quality spaces. ➢ Wide open green area Infront of residential zone. ➢ Cemeteries – End of residential highway axis.

Park city – Filled with open areas, Such as parks, squares, for flower and vegetable gardens, orchards, Botanic garden.

TRANSPORTATION ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Vast highway network – access to Brasilia from practically every where in Brazil.

Its system of roads is efficient and rarely congested.

Clover shaped tur – offs avoided intersections.

Either go on a platform, Underground, Or under the platform.

Separate roads for local traffic and for through traffic.

➢ City is designed for car, Not in pedestrians scale. ➢ Its reliance on highways and broad streets, than pathways for pedestrians and bike riders , disassociated people from walkable streets and neighborhoods. ➢ Great distance between the buildings, reduce walkability. ➢ Buildings that lack detail and are typically in straight, monotonous lines, unnatural for pedestrians or cyclists. ➢ Brasilia’s central bus terminal located at intersection of monumental avenues, Public transportation is inefficient.

They even began to promote the very un-Brazilian notion of respecting pedestrians.

Efforts to improve the city are ongoing, The city is centering design around pedestrians and cyclists. Improving public transportation by building Bus Rapid Transit lines.

RESIDENTIAL

The responsibility of the NOVACAP was to legally regulate and provide decent affordable housing t all inhabitants.

➢ The apartment building complexes that designed to house the rich and the poor, are now home to the rich and the rich. ➢ Thousands of federal employees were forced to move to the new capital. ➢ Culturally Inappropriate, Traditional livelihood is missing. ➢ Over-planning every aspect of urban life - City’s inhabitants could not redefine the city on their own terms. ➢ Perverse relation between location of jobs and homes, Use of private cars and residential locations ,which increase transportation costs and lower housing prices with distance from the center.

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The construction of residential areas is not permitted around the edge of the lake, Instead, The area is designated for leisure and entertainment facilities and is preserved as a natural landscape.

Twin houses’ Super block Residential zone Embassies and legations

Row houses Super blocks Satellite towns.

Individual residence north Individual residence south Sub- urban residences

SUPER BLOCKS

Brasilia's residential quarters designed 5,00,000 inhabitants and included commerce, services, and educational and health facilities, neighborhood units, modulated in superblocks along an arched north–south freeway.

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Block of area 280 sqm It is occupied by long six storey apartment buildings rested on massive pillars.

Church, Secondary schools, Movie house, Youth club, Adequate field space for children to play, Community spaces.

In between super blocks, building for commercial business.

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Easy to build the sectors, Replicated module.

➢ They were Intended include people of all income levels to live together and interact without class distinctions. ➢ Low population density, It restrict the further growth.

SATELLITE TOWNS

Taguatinga and Águas Claras satellite towns of Brasilia

➢ Brasília is now the fourth-largest city in the country have more than 2.5 million people, yet fewer than 10 percent are residents of the Pilot Plan area. The others live outside in the suburban sprawl. ➢ 27 satellite towns have been created at periphery, over the years through house the extra inhabitantsand commuted to the plano piloto every day to work. ➢ The displacement of from residents too far away in satellite towns. ➢ Newer satellite town have very few green areas unlike the pilot plan. ➢ Created less secure neighbourhood. ➢ These satellite cities lacked sanitation, transportation, and civic services.

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The outer growth of the city started at time of construction of the city as temporary construction-worker camps cropped up around the city and Many were responsible for building their own homes.

Low-income Sol Nascente neighborhood in Ceilândia, west of the capital.

➢ In Costa’s view, a modern city needed to be deliberate, orderly, rational, and systematic—the opposite of messy, over-crowded cities that grew and developed organically over time, ➢ Doesn't have the complexity of a normal city. It's a sort of office campus for a government. ➢ It doesn't have messy streets, people living above shops, and offices nearby, which give life to the city.

“People run away on Thursday evenings and go to Sao Paulo and Rio to have fun. All you have to do is to go out of central Brasilia and you get completely normal plazas and streets with kids playing, and places open every hour of the day and night and everything else"

SOURCE ✓ The Brazilianization of Brasilia By Fernando Lara and Stella Nair, Volume 14, Issue 2, Winter 2007. ✓ Inside Brazil’s ‘cautionary tale’ for utopian urbanists Brasilia is reconciling its historic identity with the realities of

contemporary life By Diana Budds ✓ 60 Years Ago, The Modernist City of Brasília Was Built From Scratch, The Brazilian capital is a case study in urban planning, full of triumphs and shortcomings, By Stefanie Waldek. August 21, 2020. ✓ Brasília national capital, Brazil, BY The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica