Memorial Cemetery Parque das Cerejeiras / Crisa Santos Arquitectos

Curated by Matheus Pereira

Architects: Crisa Santos Arquitectos
Year: 2018
Photographs:Isis de Oliveira, Lucas Fonseca, Marcelo Oséas, Celina Germer
Manufacturers: Neolith, Rothoblaas, Amarante, Deca, Esmara, Euroaço, Lepri, Mabitec, Marmoraria Piramide, Martins Bastos, Osawa, Portinari, Quattro Vetro, Rewood, Sorefi, TC Shingle, VGF, Zanchet, Zobel

Text description provided by the architects. Crisa Santos has a unique peculiarity on developing projects focusing on neuroarchitecture, which uses science to create projects that offer sensations and perceptions, causing emotions to users, aims to increase awareness and understanding of the impacts of architecture on the brain and human behavior. An example of this is the Parque das Cerejeiras´s revitalization project, located in Jardim Ângela, South Zone of São Paulo. A reference in the capital of São Paulo, the cemetery, with 300,000 square meters, has the architecture embraced by nature in a perfect symbiosis, reframing the contact of human beings with their most instinctive sensations in order to reestablish grief in a more natural way, through the practice of biophilia. Using parametric architecture for some structures, in addition to the use of outdoor environments, Crisa Santos designed this complex aimed at the public of the peripheral neighborhoods of the Zul region of São Paulo.

Parque das Cerejeiras is an open-air gallery with sculptures, works of art and installations created exclusively for the site. “In addition to learning the religious and spiritual side, I also expanded my learning with professionals such as geriatricians, psychiatrists, and psychologists to understand the grieving process. I wanted, from conversations and research, to understand how the mourners want to be supported, and how this mourning can be cared for, ”explains Crisa. “I also resorted to extensive research that Sincep (the Union of Cemeteries and Private Crematoriums of Brazil) did, asking people in mourning what they were looking for in the process: they thought of welcome, fluidity, transformation.”

Crisa then took advantage of an initiative that focuses on the person who remains: “We provide spaces for them to live their grief in its entirety and as lightly as possible. We cause constructive impacts to make the person feel alive, even in pain.” In an experience that transposes the metaphysician, Crisa makes use of unusual elements, such as the gateway to the Parque das Cerejeiras entrance: built-in wood, the parametric structure refers to the movement of a flight to a sacred place; grass mounds allude to the rising soul, an ascent to the heavens; This ordinance reinforces the freedom to come and go of the visitor and the surrounding community.

One of the most symbolic elements of Parque das Cerejeiras, Eternity Square is formed by several sections with steel plates in a spiral movement, bringing a narrative that makes an allegory to all phases of life: birth, adolescence, adulthood, generation of children, maturity and passage. The curves of the plates represent the chapters of this narrative and assume the role of the guardian of names printed on its surface. “The square is a manifesto of life and there pulses connectivity. It is a place of affection that marks the park as a territory of perpetual reunions”, explains the architect.