Suffocated by the intense traffic of São Paulo, the Anhangabaú Valley was the subject of a public competition held in 1981, and that called for ideas on how to revert a process that had transformed the park into an avenue with big parking areas.

The proposal of Lina Bo Bardi, who entered the competition with a team of eight, discards the option of burying traffic, but does not forgo the possibility of recovering the street level for pedestrians. A large elevated bridge runs along the valley’s full length, bearing the weight of two levels of traffic that are separated by nine meters. The supports, made of steel tubes, evoke the shape of tropical trees, with asymmetric ramifications that challenge the usual logic of symmetry-based engineering works. The suspended thoroughfare doesn’t follow a straight line either, but rather curves generating gently rolling valleys and hills throughout the itinerary. Aside from redirecting traffic through this contemporary aqueduct, the project proposes renewing some of the surrounding buildings to create leisure and gathering spaces. Atop the tallest building a restaurant and public lookout offer panoramic views of the city for everyone to enjoy.