Tejo and Trancão Park: a legible intervention constructed with discarded fill

The Tagus ( Tejo ) and Trancão Park in Lisbon, Portugal, was designed by João Nunes/PROAP and Hargreaves Associates for the Expo ’98. It was a regeneration project of a degraded area occupied by several decommissioned activities, a functioning wastewater treatment plant, and a landfill. The park has an accentuated topography, characterized by the presence of many constructed landforms and by its raised level, both built with a considerable amount of discarded earthy materials. The large majority of the fill consists of materials excavated from the Expo ’98 residential construction sites and a minor portion of dredged materials. This chapter provides information on the Expo ’98 project, the movements of materials, and the Tagus and Trancão Park: an enjoyable designed landscape built with a large amount of discarded fill. The chapter provides unpublished information and pictures connected to the fill materials and the landforms, it discusses the ways the materials are exploited to organize the park, the visibility of the location of the site, the high legibility of the park’s constructed essence, and provides reflections on legibility and meaning.