Casa Forte Garden, Campina do Engenho
Recife (PE), 1935
Landscape architect: Roberto Burle Marx
The square located at the Casa Forte neighbourhood, in Recife, was the first public space designed by Roberto Burle Marx as director of Parks and Recreation for the city, a position for which he was appointed after working with the architect and urban planner Lúcio Costa, who was one of the most important figures for his training and early career. The project highlights the pioneering practice of using national plants in public and collective places at a time when landscaping as a profession had little recognition in Brazil. The creation of gardens that could be identified as Brazilian reacted against the influence of European standards.
Throughout his career, Burle Marx made trips to discover the country’s biomes, where he collected plant specimens. Casa Forte Square was the result of the experimental use of original species from a certain region in a different environment. Trees, aquatic plants and plants from waterlogged soils, many native from the Amazon region, were used in the square. It also has two water mirrors: one dedicated to South American flora, with plants from rivers and reservoirs, and the other to aquatic flora from tropical regions of other continents. The political context of 1935, the year of a communist uprising and a series of left-wing revolts across the country, resulted in the dismissal of Burle Marx. Public reports show that, because of his use of red plants, he was considered subversive by the government.
