The Rio Carioca carried, at that time, a large amount of dirt from the hill above, which woul bring an unbearable odor to the garden. An attempt to treat the water went no further, so the option to choose was a river diversion within the property into a large gallery with a section of approximately 3.5 by 3.5 meters at the edge of the area. My participation started when the river diversion project was approved by the competent public agencies. In the original riverbed, artesian well water would be pumped in a closed circuit. It was up to me to redraw the course of the river by the house, defining its future levels and creating the koi pond that is still there. The pool would also be renovated  and a new access through a wooden bridge created - which at the client's request was later replaced by another one, similar to the one existing at the access below the house - in addition to a new staircase, the garden of the lunch room and the vegetation design of the total area of the property, evidently leaving at my discretion what I found important to maintain. Being an extremely complicated work, it would cause great impact on the existing garden. There was no way to be different. 

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​Although in the 1950s Burle Marx made a project for this garden, much had changed over the years. It should also be kept in mind that Burle Marx's initial project was a minor intervention, given that the house already existed, the circulation was already defined, the garden levels and the existing documentation, both photographic and drawings, was very scarce. The work in progress would be gigantic and, for this reason, there was no intention in my project, nor on the part of the client, to restore it. I preserved the large trees that had inhabited the plot of land since before Burle Marx’s project. The pond was also kept as a habitat for flamingos, a pandanus, some palm trees like two Ptychospermas, a beautiful francinetia, a Calycophyllum spruceanum (pau mulato), Zamias and some shrubs. . 

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​This was not a restoration project, but a new one, a major intervention due to river diversion that affected much of the area. It was a completely different attitude from the one I had in relation to the garden of today’s IMS - Instituto Moreira Salles, when coincidentally in 1995 I was called by Ambassador Walter Moreira Salles to make a new garden in his former residence that was later transformed into a cultural institute. In that case, I suggested that a restoration should take place rather than a new garden, because despite the lack of maintenance, it would not be affected by major works. For restoration, there were conditions and vocations. At IMS we have a Burle Marx project done alongside the architecture project, where in fact his contribution was important and effective, as can be seen in the water mirror with the tile panel, in the pool, in the geometric garden, in some external floors, etc. There I made a new project in the new areas, not previously covered by the original project, and some necessary interventions for the Burle Marx project.

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At that time, we did not have 3D, almost a picture of the future life, and not all the tools we can have today so that the customer could visualize what is being designed. The drawings were made in pencil on waxed paper, with perspectives, or in nankin on tracing paper, always relying on the trust the client placed in the professional he had hired. There were not so many meetings, discussions and reviews. 

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These were years of hard work. The shuttle service became routine with round-trip São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro at least twice a week, coming and going to monitor and make the work feasible. Many decisions were made on the spot, such as the position and fit of each stone. All the riverbed stones from where we were working were taken, stored, and replaced to fit the new situation. A work happily supervised by Dr. Roberto from the family room window, asking me from above: “What do you think, will it be all right?” “I am afraid! Sure, Dr Roberto, it has to be.” Every day, coming back from the newspaper, he would stop by to look at the worksite, to say that he was behind us, cheering, and so it was until the end of the work, without many questions. 

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Waterfalls accommodated the original quotas in the previous and subsequent stretches where the original course of the river is found, as well as enriching the movement and sound of the water. The first stretch, where there was already the great waterfall, was kept as it was and, right at the bottom of it, began the intervention that, with clean water, allowed us to create lagoons with sand-covered ground for a carp collection. In this stretch the river is approximately 1.5 m deep and, from the bridge, after another stretch of level change with some little waterfalls, the river returns to the original riverbed. 

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​The koi ponds gave Dr. Roberto much joy, as he told me about the enormous pleasure that body of water gave him every day, as if it had been there forever. And he thanked me for being able to enjoy that place. What a delight! After all, isn't this the purpose of our doing, creating a good place that makes us feel good while sensing nature? 

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​Stone planters were designed on the walls creating niches to plant philodendrons, beautiful magenta-colored mango jasmine, ferns, monsteras, bromeliads and so on. Thus, the presence of these walls, lateral to the pond, was softened. A giant fern and a Handroanthus umbellatus have been planted by the bridge, and the two of them, one for the yellow flowers it offers us at the end of winter and the other for the opulence of its leaves and buds, delight us to this day, each in its own way. I used and abused the rich repertoire of shades of green, the restless, bustling forms of the crinum, the philodendrons, in contrast to the lit and spiky lace of the Lea coccinea. In the background, the woods were cut by the vertical marking of the macarthury palmtrees and Syagrus romanzoffiana (jerivás). Time went on to give life to this garden, giving rise to spontaneous species, creating moss patinating stones, bringing shadows, filling the voids, creating the desired closures, all through the magic of nature amalgamating itself to the project idea and starting to tell its own story. 

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A small deck was created to provide a view of the river and waterfall from the garden of the lunch room, where we planted some jaboticaba trees (Brazilian grapes trees). 

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​As all the infrastructure work was completed, the vegetation planting work progressed. An entire garden envelope has been crafted to ensure the privacy of the property along Cosme Velho Street with the introduction of numerous trees and palm trees. The entire slope between the river gallery and the garden had species introduced for this purpose, and at the entrance of the house where the river returns to the original bed, all the vegetation seen today was planted at that time. Next to the pool, flowering shrubs such as Megaskepasmas, were introduced and some others were reinforced, as the Justicias, which were already there. 

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​The garden in the middle of the roundabout driveway has been planted with flowers at the customer's request, the ones still there. 

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And so a few years went by designing the introduced vegetation in loco to understand each place, each detail as well as the whole set. 

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Three years later the adjacent plot of land, where the cafeteria is today, was incorporated. After the demolition of the old building, large gaps, high walls and gable roofs were exposed and, after a new project, received stone planters allowing the introduction of big trees in order to provide some scale adjustment and visual comfort. In the center I planted a mango tree and the idea was to use this area as a parking lot. An also consistent work was done along the street so that it could receive the trees that would give privacy from this part, too. Between the two plots all the vegetation was implanted in order to guarantee privacy of the house, the new parking lot and the new guardhouse. 

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At the centenary of Burle Marx, in 2009, there was a movement towards official heritage listing of the house’s garden as a garden of Burle Marx. I was called on this occasion by representatives of the Roberto Marinho Foundation and I suggested the presence of Haruyoshi Ono, partner of Burle Marx whom I had known for a long time. I took the projects I had developed and executed in those years. Haru had not been to Cosme Velho's house for a long time. After walking through the garden, and looking at my drawings, he said that there was no point in claiming this authorship considering that what was left of Burle Marx's original project was very little: the water mirror on the east face of the land, where flamingos lived, and some plants around it. 

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​So it is with gardens: they are changeable and vulnerable. Their restoration sometimes makes sense, sometimes not, for countless reasons, and this design of nature must be admitted and accepted.