Tiradentes considers requalification of Largo das Forras, by Burle Marx

In the heart of Tiradentes, the Largo das Forras is more than one of the best-known addresses in this town in Minas Gerais. A meeting point for residents and visitors alike, the square also holds an important layer of the history of Brazilian landscape design: its layout bears the signature of Roberto Burle Marx.

Now, decades after it was created, the space returns to the center of discussions with a requalification proposal that aims to preserve this legacy without ignoring the needs of those who experience the square today.

The topic was debated during the 10th Tiradentes Creative Week at the meeting "Landscape is heritage: Burle Marx's legacy and the future of Largo das Forras", with Cecília Gontijo, Luciana Bacheschi and Rafael Brito, moderated by Juliana Freiras and Chris Lara, from Papo de Paisagista.

Developed collaboratively, the proposal is based on historical research, landscape reading and community listening to envision the future of a space that has changed alongside the city.

Largo das Forras, de Burle Marx - Tiradentes (Marina Pires/CASACOR)

Burle Marx's project for Tiradentes

Burle Marx's relationship with Tiradentes began in the late 1970s, when the landscape designer developed projects for different squares and spaces in the historic town. Among them were the squares of Forras, Rosário, Mercês, Chafariz and Sol, in addition to areas connected to the Matriz de Santo Antônio and the Church of Nossa Senhora das Mercês.

The proposal sought to incorporate modern landscape design into dialogue with the historic ensemble of the town, avoiding abrupt interventions and drawing on species related to the local context.

In the case of Largo das Forras, studies preserved in IPHAN's technical archive are dated 1987. Implementation began in 1989, after a redesign of the project and with support from the Roberto Marinho Foundation. The new configuration was inaugurated in 1990.

Largo das Forras, de Burle Marx - Tiradentes (Marina Pires/CASACOR)

A landscape that has changed over time

Since then, the square has undergone new transformations. The growth of tourism, commerce and events has intensified the use of the square; trees have fallen, planters have suffered from trampling, and different activities now share the same space.

It is precisely this trajectory that the current study seeks to understand. Photographs, maps, documents and previous research help to identify what has remained, what has been lost, and how people's relationship with the square has changed over the years.

According to landscape agronomist Rafael Brito, this reading goes beyond vegetation. "We can understand the landscape as a combination of natural factors, biotic and abiotic, with sociocultural factors (...) and also public policies."

The proposal, therefore, is not to choose a single version of the square to restore, but to understand the different layers that have shaped the current landscape.

Largo das Forras, de Burle Marx - Tiradentes (Marina Pires/CASACOR)

Requalifying without erasing history

For this reason, the work is treated as a requalification, and not as an attempt to faithfully reproduce the square from another period.

Burle Marx's project remains the main reference, but Tiradentes and the uses of the square have changed. For Rafael, any new design must start from this history and, at the same time, consider who uses the space today.

"We don't have the intention of coming in and redesigning the square, but the intention of understanding these previous layers and how we can redesign this square together with the population," he explained.

The idea of participation finds support in Burle Marx himself. During the meeting, a historical record brought back a quote from the landscape designer on the subject:

"There should always be dialogue in this sense, and not groups making decisions without the population participating sufficiently."

Largo das Forras, de Burle Marx - Tiradentes (Marina Pires/CASACOR)

Responding to current uses

Before defining any intervention, the team began talking with residents, merchants and other people connected to the square. Landscape designer and researcher Luciana Bacheschi sums up the approach in one phrase: "Before the stroke, the gaze."

The first conversations revealed desires for more shade, trees, flower gardens, and spaces for socializing. References also emerged to areas for children, games, benches integrated into the planters, fruit trees, and even community gardens. For now, these are possibilities, not defined solutions.

More than adding new elements to the square, the discussion focuses on making the Largo once again inviting for people to linger.

"The square has to stop being a space that people pass through, it has to be a space where people stay," said Luciana.

The listening to the community continues, including through a questionnaire created to broaden participation before the project moves forward.

Largo das Forras, de Burle Marx - Tiradentes (Marina Pires/CASACOR)

A square that remains a meeting place

Throughout its history, the Largo das Forras has had many configurations. The pavements, the gardens, the trees, the furniture, and even the ways of occupying the space have changed. In a certain period, walking around the square to see and be seen was part of the residents' routine - the so-called 'footing', which the agronomist and landscape designer Cecília Gontijo defined, with humor, as "the social network of the time."

Today, the context is different, but the idea of the square as a place of coexistence remains at the center of the discussion.

For Luciana, occupying these spaces also helps to create a relationship of care. "The moment you transform and reoccupy that space, people come and take better care of it."

It is this closeness between heritage and everyday life that should guide the next steps. Preserving the Largo das Forras does not mean bringing it back to the past, but recognizing the marks left by Burle Marx and by the many generations that have passed through there.

The proposal is still being developed. Before arriving at the new design, the work continues focused on research, listening, and understanding how the square can remain alive for residents and visitors, without losing sight of Tiradentes' own history.