O que nos contam as plantas: proposta arquitetônica de um museu botânico no Parque das Dunas à luz da ecotectura

Abstract

The Parque Estadual Dunas de Natal, located in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, also delimited as Environmental Protection Zone 02, is considered the largest urban park on dunes in the country. The capital of Rio Grande do Norte lacks public spaces that invite the population to get to know, in an active way, the floristic wealth of the Park and its importance in the context of Natal as an urban center. The need to think about spaces that understand the importance of the natural environment, its preservation, contemplation and knowledge, becomes increasingly urgent. As conflicting interests with environmental development gain scope in Urban Planning revisions, it is necessary to embrace such areas in a way that they do not get swallowed up. This work seeks to contribute with an architectural product that invites the natives and their visitors to know and discover the riches that surround us, in the floristic scope, still little understood. In this way, its main objective is to think of spaces that direct a closer look at the natural environment, ensuring its preservation and recovery, through scientific, educational, cultural and leisure spaces - uses provided for in the Park’s legislation - helping to preserve such areas so constantly threatened. Seeking to propose a botanical museum in the Park area - on the banks of Av. Engenheiro Roberto Freire - as a final product, an architectural proposal at the preliminary study level, using the guidelines of ecotecture, using different construction methods in a mixed structure, seeking to take advantage of the best potential and to mitigate the impacts caused in the area. The main construction method is the rammed earth, adopted in the construction of the external walls of the 9075.29 m² building and mixed structural elements: metallic structure in recycled steel, supporting the roof, reaching large spans and the use of in reinforced concrete, underground, resulting in a product that seeks to embrace and be embraced by the local nature.