Topography, an unknown opportunity in sustainable sustainable; a review of Tejo and Trancão Park by PROAP (1994), Lisbon, Portugal

The Tejo and Trancão Park is one of the most significant projects in the renewal of a post-industrialist landscape in Portugal. This 160-acre environmental park supports a wide range of recreational and educational uses. The project takes advantage of the stimulus provided by Expo ‘98 to redevelop a valuable, but long abused waterfront parcel of land directly adjacent to the Expo site which was a contaminated and low in quality. But today this park has become a successful place in Lisbon. The design seeks to transform the deteriorated site, without erasing past uses—landfill, industrial production and waste treatment—to create a meaningful program of environmental education through direct participation around Portugal as well as a place for recreation and respite for the new adjacent residences. In other words the changes in land-use patterns and land-values, derived by urban growth, territorial specialization and new infrastructure turned this area into an increasingly attractive site. The landform Manipulation as the conceptual framework in this project has completely transformed the structure in the park. The constructed landform is considered the fundamental elements in its landscape. The scenic values were also essential in the development of the concept of the park, supported by hierarchical network and the creation of visual corridors and by the establishment of elevated platforms of observation of the exceptional views on the river and the marsh. They all have lead to a three dimensional and rhythmic landscape with unity in design. The landform helps to create an ecological diversity in the park through controlling the wind, light absorption and the appropriate vegetation. The landform manipulation idea has been a creative way known by the landscape architects to turn this area into an increasingly attractive site. The park achieves its success through different factors such as: Planning coordination with previous plans for organizing the EXPO site in a large scale, creating multi functional spaces and visual attractions and creating exceptional views on the river as well as connecting the site to river. The park also benefits from being adjacent to the multifunctional EXPO site, its strategic location which is near the Tejo Bay and a large area that provides enhancement of diverse functions in the park. But the project is mostly successful for developing a unit that has answered to the several selected uses of the program and has tried to enhance sustainability. The conceptual solution proposed by PROAP studies Associates analyzed the problems of the place, converting them in opportunities of artistic expression. Besides the ecological and functional sense of the proposed structure, the solution serves the parallel intention of establishing a spatial organization to translate a coherence and formal unit reading the group in which all species can live compatibly and use a common source of energy for life.