Crisa Santos: Cerejeiras Memorial Park [Memorial Parque das Cerejeiras] – 1st phase

After a renovation conducted by Crisa Santos, Cerejeiras Park, located in Jardim Ângela in the south zone of São Paulo, has become an unprecedented memorial – a benchmark for other cemetery projects. With the work, the 300,000 square meter space received buildings with organic features, surrounded by nature – in order to reconnect human beings with their most instinctive sensations, mitigating the pain of mourning. Furthermore, the place has an extensive green area that opened to the community of surrounding residents.

When describing the client’s request to reformulate an old cemetery in the south zone of São Paulo, architect Crisa Santos refers to the event as an opportunity. Indeed, the invitation motivated the professional to study the subject in depth, with the help of neuroarchitecture – “which uses science to design projects that create sensations, causing emotions in users”, explains the architect.

In this sense, the facilities she planned (some already finished, others forecast by 2025) exhibit remarkable characteristics. First to be deployed, the viewing platform was designed for the community: installed in a ravine, with free access for all, respecting the fact that the population of Jardim Ângela was already in the habit of watching the sunset from there. After all, the architect’s concept for the Cerejeiras Park provides for the wellbeing of all visitors, including those who visiting in order to walk, meditate or simply rest.

The idea that the cemetery belongs to everyone also permeated the design of the fluid and transparent entrance (previously there was a closed gate), now connected to a new pedestrian road that facilitates the movement of the region’s inhabitants. 

Parametric design prevailed in some items, aiming to bring to grieving people a sense of warmth, fluidity, transformation – materialized through organic, winding forms that seem to rise toward heaven.

In addition, the new cemetery emerged as an outdoor gallery, with sculptures, works of art and facilities created exclusively for the site. The presence of nature was also guaranteed whenever possible, with the preservation of an existing forest and the replanting of trees.

Other infrastructure constructions are also planned, such as another viewing platform, an amphitheater, a butterfly garden, as well as a new complex for wakes, always in line with the search for reconnection with nature promoted by biophilia, aiming to bring more fluidity in the stages of mourning.