Founded in 1963 the Nautical Club of Araraquara originated from the desire of four fellow lovers of water skiing. In an area of 664 hectares, the first decision was to build the dam, inaugurated in 1965. Its founders sought professional assistance for the development of the Master Plan, first with architect Sergio Bernardes and then with a group formed by an engineer and architecture students, among whom engineer Roberto Massafera and Architect Francisco Santoro stood out, who presented a proposal more aligned with the intentions of the new Club. Santoro also signs the buildings that have been built over the years. It was also defined that the landscape be treated with the same degree of commitment.
Thus, at the end of 1970, the Board of Directors of the Club, which sought for a landscaper, hires for the challenge the still student of agronomy and former intern of Roberto Burle Marx, Luiz Antonio Ferraz Matthes. Matthes, becomes the main figure in the formation of the landscape of the Nautical Club, transforming pasture areas into one of the greatest examples of landscape composition in national territory, uniting natural remnants of cerradão with gardens of great diversity and scenic beauty.
We can see the harmony between landscape planning and architecture, in sets of modern buildings and elaborate landscape compositions, with great aesthetic resemblance to Burle Marx's own greatest projects, the result of professional respect and the positive influence of friendship they have maintained for over 35 years. When Roberto visited the club in 1994, he declared his satisfaction that the club's beautiful landscape was the only one he would sign as his, in a true gesture of admiration for his friend's work. With more than 400 species of trees and shrubs, more than 100 species of palm trees and more than 40 herbaceous, in addition to the gardens and areas of plant preservation, Náutico has a true collection of plants that, aesthetically positioned, compose some gardens of the Club. The place is an "oasis" amid the monotony of sugarcane culture that surrounds it.
In all, the club's recreational and sports areas have more than 30 gardens designed from organic shapes and with high aesthetic and scientific rigor. The large scale of the project, instead of showing a problem, allowed the expansion of the landscape in proportions, forms and use of species that, finally, make up the great cultural landscape of Náutico. In addition to aesthetic issues, Matthes and his small team elaborated, in view of the design and conservation challenge, several strategies of management and management of the landscape over 5 decades of work.
Actions that deal with the training of the team of gardeners, managers, the production of seedlings, as well as the definition of guidelines and rules for the maintenance of assets. Thus, the Nautical Club can be considered an example of working with the landscape, from the tiniest scale to the most comprehensive.
