Archinect - News

Brazil has turned a corner in its yearslong National Museum restoration project

2022-09-02T18:34:00-04:00

Four years after a devastating blaze wiped out the majority of its incredible 20 million-object collection, the rebuilding of Brazil’s fire-damaged National Museum has reached an important construction milestone in Rio de Janeiro.

According to The Art Newspaper, local firms Velatura Restaurações and Construtora Biapó have now completed the restoration of the historic facade and expect the building to be completely reopened sometime in 2027. The upgraded facilities will eventually include an extra 2,100 square meters (22,604 square feet) of exhibition space with capacity for the display of up to 10,000 items.

Previously on Archinect: National Museum in Rio De Janeiro suffers massive fire after reported neglect

H+F Architects, the team behind its interior restoration, said of the eventual finished product: “There will be a more contemporary atmosphere, with a mixture of elements conserved and restored.”

They also mentioned that the fire apparently served as a “violent intervention” ...

UNESCO names Rio de Janeiro as first World Capital of Architecture

2019-01-22T13:46:00-05:00

UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture Ernesto Ottone R, Thomas Vonier, President of the International Union of Architects (UIA), and Verena Vicentini Andreatta, Municipal Secretary of the City of Rio for Urbanism, on Friday 18 January announced that the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) will be the World Capital of Architecture for 2020.

The new World Capital of Architecture initiative is part of a recent partnership between UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) and allows the designated city to host the triennial UIA World Congress.

Under the theme "All the worlds. Just one world," Rio de Janeiro is expected to hold a series of events throughout 2020.

National Museum in Rio De Janeiro suffers massive fire after reported neglect

2018-09-05T13:50:00-04:00

Hours after an immense fire consumed the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, a crowd of protestors gathered in front of the wrecked institution on last night (3 September) to protest the financial neglect that led to its demise. The 200-year-old historical building lacked an efficient sprinkler system—a result of years of incremental budget cuts by the Brazilian government—and was quickly gutted when the blaze erupted shortly after the museum closed to visitors on Sunday (2 September).

Current Brazilian president Michel Temer and former president Rousseff are being blamed for a failure to properly maintain the National Museum in Rio De Janeiro after a consuming fire broke out 3 days ago. In the aftermath of the flames the museum's facade has mostly survived, yet aerial shots reveal most of the roof has collapsed with interiors full of rubble.

Only 40 days prior to the fire, an architect wrote to federal authorities reporting the buildings neglect such as exposed wires and other structural issues asking for immediate measures to be taken.

Oppenheim Architecture opens Emiliano Hotel overlooking famous Copacabana Beach

2018-01-22T15:12:00-05:00

Copacabana has conjured images of beauty, sand and ocean, long before Barry Manilow was singing its praises. Capitalizing on some of the best beach-adjacent real estate north of Havana, the Emiliano Hotel enlisted the help of Oppenheim Architecture for the hotel brands new location on Rio de Janeiro's most famous beach.

The Miami-based studio has designed the hotel to try to make the most of its historic outlook. "The project fronts one of the most beautiful views in the world while being surrounded on three sides by dilapidated apartment buildings from the 1950’s. Through simple yet powerful spatial manipulations, the hotel optimizes its beneficial attributes while subverting its negative forces" the firm stated.

The 90-room hotel features a distinctive façade with weatherproof panels that can open and close to the requirements of each guest. The interiors, designed by Brazilian architect Arthur Casas, feature large windows that allow the flow of ...

Studying a Brazilian favela via VR

2018-01-18T16:00:00-05:00

[...] Penn State landscape architecture professor Timothy Baird and architecture professor José Duarte taught a new studio that engaged students in the study of one Brazilian favela via virtual reality (VR) technology. The studio, which paired architecture students with landscape architecture students, posited VR as a proxy for expensive site visits. “Developing countries can’t always afford consultants because of the distance and difficulty to travel,” says Baird [...]

"Duarte, who has studied informal settlements across the globe, believes in their power to model emergent patterns of more sustainable resource consumption in the developing world, and in the ability for contemporary technology to decode how they work," the Landscape Architecture Magazine writes and quotes Duarte saying: "They are not a problem. They are a solution with many problems."

Take a look at the already-dilapidated facilities of the Rio Olympics

2017-02-14T12:17:00-05:00

The Olympics are a costly venture. In fact, they’re more like a high-stakes gamble. Countries pour money into the festivities, often going far over budget, with the hope that they’ll receive a return—either through tourist dollars or else through raising the city’s profile internationally. And, after the closing games, those hulking stadiums and sports venues are expensive to maintain. They also can be hard to find a use for. Domestic sports just don’t draw the same crowds as the Olympics do.

Some countries find creative reuses for their venues—from a water park in Beijing to a refugee center in Athens. But, even in the case of both these cities, the stadiums have largely fallen into disrepair due to neglect. The same goes, apparently, for Rio—eventhough the games ended less than a year ago. That’s not really a huge surprise considering the massive political turmoil gripping the country today.

Check out these pictures of the facilities for the Rio Olympics today, via the Guardian.

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Wilkinson Eyre, designers of Rio's biggest Olympic stadium, reflect on the Games' architectural legacy

2016-09-14T05:25:00-04:00

Following the Olympics’ closing ceremony, and as September’s Paralympic Games continue, international attention has begun to shift to the future of Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic sites. These buildings must be built to evolve to accommodate Paralympic and future athletes, and the success of this change will set the precedent for Rio’s regeneration in the long term.

I spoke to Sam Wright of WilkinsonEyre, lead of their sports architecture team, about the firm’s Areanas Cariocas project: an incredible 400m long space for 3 venues and 36,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium at the Rio site. Having utilised his knowledge from the firm’s creation of London’s 2012 Olympic basketball arena, Wright spoke to me about the pressures and privileges of designing this colossal building, and to have, consequently, a huge involvement in the planning of Rio 2016 writ large and the city’s regeneration plan overall.

What have you learned from your involvement in the London 2012 Legacy that has inform...

Now that the Olympics have ended, what's in store for Rio's stadiums?

2016-08-23T18:05:00-04:00

Future Arena, the handball venue, will be taken apart and the pieces used to build four schools around the city, each serving 500 students. [...] the city will turn the aquatics stadium into two community swimming centers; the media center will become a high school dorm; and the 300 acres of land on which Barra Olympic Park currently sits will go be turned over for public parks and private development.

Come on in, the water's fine: Rio sailors say worries about water quality overblown

2016-08-09T19:04:00-04:00

Despite reports of dangerous levels of pollution in Rio's Guanabara Bay and concerns that floating garbage could damage or slow competitors' boats, sailors at the 2016 Olympics are showing little or no fear of getting into the water [...] Many said the dangers of sailing in Rio have been overblown and worried that the water concerns are overshadowing some of the most exciting and challenging sailing of their lives.

So far, the Rio Olympics seem to be going pretty well. But before they opened, a series of issues plagued the preparations. For some background, check out these links:

Hit or miss?: Oliver Wainwright reviews the designs of the Rio Olympics

2016-08-09T13:13:00-04:00

he collapsed sailing ramp has been hauled out of the water, a Russian diplomat has heroically killed a carjacker (or maybe not), and 450,000 condoms await action in the leaky athletes village. Beset by construction problems and delays and with preparations decreed the “worst ever” by the International Olympic Committee, how is the architecture and design of the XXXI Olympiad shaping up so far?

The Olympics are in full swing. Here's how to watch them. Interest in more Olympics architecture? Check out 10 notable projects from past Olympic Games here.

This month, Archinect's coverage includes a special focus on all things related to games. Check out some related articles here.

Rio Olympics 2016: how to watch, and what to expect at the opening ceremony

2016-08-05T13:42:00-04:00

It's finally arrived: the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is tonight. Technically, the Games are already underway (soccer competitions began on August 3), but the bulk of events will take place after the ceremony. And chances are for those in the U.S., you're nowhere near attending, and you'll be beholden to the broadcasters. Here's what you can expect.

The opening ceremony will be significantly cheaper than historically has been the case—the entire budget for the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympics and Paralympics is $55.9 million, less than half of what it had been originally. The ceremony's creative director Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian director of City of God (2002), has incorporated three thematic "pillars" into the show: sustainability (partially an ode to the Amazon rainforest), smiling (!), and "gambiarra"—a Portuguese expression of resourcefulness.

The ceremony is also scheduled to include legendary soccer player Pele...

In honor of the Olympics, French artist JR installs giant athletes in Rio

2016-08-04T13:16:00-04:00

The French artist who goes by JR, known for flyposting large-scale photographs in cities around the world, has set up shop in Rio, just in time for the Olympic opening ceremony this Friday. As part of his ongoing worldwide Inside Out project, and under the invitation of the IOC, he's installed two giant sculptures of athletes in the city, posed in such a way that Rio itself is their stadium.

One is a diver, in a swan pose over the Barra da Tijuca, the other a high-jumper, curving over the top of the Hilton Santos in the Flamengo neighborhood. The athletes are made from printed fabric stretched over a scaffolding frame, and have been under construction since June.

h/t The Spaces

Check out more news from Rio:

Rio's streets clog with traffic as visitors arrive for the Olympics

2016-08-02T13:43:00-04:00

Special traffic regulations giving priority to athletes and VIP visitors to the Rio 2016 games have caused 20km (12.5 mile) traffic jams in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, days ahead of the opening ceremony. Since the new dedicated Olympic lanes opened on Monday, traffic during the morning rush hour has been reduced to a crawl with average speeds of less than 15 km per hour, according to O Globo.

Opening on Friday, the Rio Olympic Games aren't exactly going smoothly. Athletes are refusing to move into the apparently-incomplete Olympic Village. The city's favelas are "rapidly gentrifying", —displacing families, in the meantime. Workers are dying. Construction contracts for stadiums have been cancelled. And the government is in shambles.

But here at Archinect we're still going to focus on all things game-related for our special August theme, Games. Check out more relevant articles here. And submit to our open call for new versions of that classic real estate game, Monopoly, by Sunday, August 21.

Athletes refuse to move into Rio's Olympic Village, citing “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring”

2016-07-25T17:09:00-04:00

Sunday was supposed to be move-in day for many athletes, but the leader of the Australian Olympic delegation said its athletes would not be checking in because of problems with the gas, electricity and plumbing. [...] delegations from Britain, New Zealand and other countries were experiencing similar problems in the village, which is in an area of western Rio called Barra da Tijuca.

The official start to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will go ahead on August 5, despite ongoing concerns over the spread of the Zika virus, political upheaval, economic distress, polluted competition waters, and now, questionable athlete facilities.

Rio mayor admits Olympics were a “missed opportunity”, but believes the city has been unfairly portrayed

2016-07-14T17:49:00-04:00

“This is a missed opportunity,” Paes acknowledged. “We are not showcasing ourselves. With all these economic and political crises, with all these scandals, it is not the best moment to be in the eyes of the world. This is bad.” But he also believes the problems are exaggerated by the press in a way that unfairly portrays Rio to the outside world...“There has never been so much transformation for poor people [in Rio]...The Olympic Games are a great inspiration to get things done.”

The rapid gentrification of Rio's favelas in advance of the Olympics

2016-06-15T13:22:00-04:00

For decades, state neglect forced a pace of progress that was slow and painful in Rio’s favelas, which – unlike many other informal settlements around the world – have a largely stable population. While some residents express satisfaction that state involvement has brought new income streams and improved security, there is anger that changes are imposed from outside, without consultation with residents.

For more on the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, check out these links:

Rio Olympics "must be postponed, moved, or both" due to Zika threat

2016-05-13T18:40:00-04:00

Scientists can disagree on how much the mass migration of 500,000 foreigners will accelerate the virus’s global spread and make the pandemic worse—but none can possibly argue that it will slow it down or make things better. [...] “Olympism seeks to create … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. [...] But for the Games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?

Not to mention Brazil's ongoing corruption scandal, that just yesterday resulted in President Dilma Rousseff being kicked out of the Presidential palace, as the impeachment trial against her begins.

Related on Archinect:

11 workers have died so far during Rio Olympic construction, audit finds

2016-04-26T13:46:00-04:00

Eleven people died while working on Olympic facilities or Games-related projects between January 2013 and March 2016, according to a report released Monday by Rio de Janeiro's Regional Labor and Employment Office. The report, released by Elaine Castilho, the auditor for the Rio Olympic Games works, also notes that no workers died in the preparations for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

With the Rio Olympics opening in less than four months, sports federation concerned over problem with venues

2016-04-22T13:24:00-04:00

International sports federations expressed concern Tuesday over problems with venues for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, including power failures at the gymnastics arena this week. Members of the Association of Olympic International Sports Federations reviewed preparations for the Rio Games, which open in less than four months on Aug. 5. "They miss some very important details in each field of play," ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said at the group's annual meeting.

Another tragic setback occurred yesterday when a seaside section of a recently inaugurated elevated bike path collapsed after being hit by a powerful wave, killing two people and injuring at least three others. A possible third victim may have been swept out into the ocean.

More Rio 2016 headlines in the Archinect news:

Brazil's economy is a mess and its President is facing impeachment. Can Rio make it to the Olympics?

2016-04-12T17:57:00-04:00

For Brazil’s economy, the near future probably features a period of stagnation, as a government paralyzed by political crisis dodges the tough choices created by strong inflation, rising budget deficits and, at best, a touch of economic growth in 2017 after hitting rock bottom in 2016. [...] Demonstrators have turned out in numbers larger than in 1984 — when Brazilians of all stripes united to throw off military rule— to demand [President] Rousseff’s ouster

As reported by Reuters today, a congressional committee has recommended impeaching President Rousseff, partially in response to charges that during her 2014 re-election, she broke campaigning budget laws. This Sunday, the entire lower house will vote, and if the decision to impeach receives two-thirds majority, it will continue to Brazil's Senate.

From Reuters:

The political chaos in the capital, Brasilia, is playing out less than 100 days before the nation plays host to the first Olympic Games to be held in South America - an event that will cast the world's eyes on Brazil.

The battle over Rousseff's impeachment has polarized the nation of 200 million people and brought the government of Latin America's largest economy to a virtual standstill.

All this in the midst of a gigantic corruption scandal within the state-run oil company Petrobras, anxiety from the ongoing Zika virus, and weak Olympic ticket sales – although, thankfully, Olympic preparations are "ahead of schedule" for the op...

Rio cancels construction contract for unfinished Olympic tennis center – 200 days before the games open

2016-01-15T13:01:00-05:00

The city of Rio de Janeiro canceled the construction contract for the Olympic tennis center on Thursday, just 200 days before the start of the games, fining the consortium responsible for delays and breach of contract for the mostly finished venue. [...] Rio City Hall, which is responsible for the construction, did not say how the tennis center, which is 90-percent complete, will be finished.

Brazilian engineering companies building Olympic venues "very probably" broke laws, accepted bribes

2015-11-24T13:18:00-05:00

Brazilian police investigating corruption around the state-run oil firm Petrobras also plan to investigate more than $10bn of construction contracts for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, according to a lead investigator on the case. Some of the big engineering companies caught up in the Petrobras inquiry “very probably” broke laws against price-fixing and bribery on contracts to build Olympic venues, said Igor Romario, a federal police chief and key figure in the investigation.

Related coverage:

A young designer rethinking how we memorialize collective trauma

2015-11-17T13:46:00-05:00

[Sara Zewde] argues that while the traditional monument commemorates a singular event or individual by placing an object in a space that is a break from its surroundings, the 400-year practice of African enslavement demands a different approach. “For Afro-descended people, you wake up every day with the legacy of slavery,” she says. “How do you deal with that spatially?” One approach is to translate cultural practices into spatial ones.

Urban fingerprints reveal a city's fundamental character and composition

2015-09-17T15:10:00-04:00

Like humans, cities and neighborhoods have their own unique fingerprints. The maps were created by researchers at the center’s Urban Age program, who have been studying how the layout of rapidly urbanizing cities can affect their livability.

New York is a grid, London is an airy whirl, Hong Kong is dense: at least, that's according to the black and white "fingerprint" maps put together by the Urban Age program at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The project helps researches see at a glance the macroscopic characteristics of urban environments, from density to wealth disparity to room for growth. The project has profiled urban centers all around the world, including Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai.

For news about other innovative designs using aerially-compiled urban patterns, do read:

• UpStarts: Four O Nine architecture and design

Will Rio's Olympic venues be ready in time for the 2016 Games?

2015-08-06T10:19:00-04:00

'When these [2007 Pan Am] venues were built the government told Brazilians that these would be Olympic-ready, and there would be a rather smooth and efficient transition to eventually hosting the Olympics,' explained Rio-based reporter Taylor Barnes...'But, these venues have instead had some pretty checkered after-lives.'

Despite a murky past of broken promises in addition to recent water-safety concerns and rampant economic turmoil, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes claims construction of the venues are on schedule and will be delivered on time for the 2016 Olympics -- which will begin one year from now. Public Radio International interviews Rio-based reporter Taylor Barnes, who gives a glimpse into the reality of the situation.

More Olympic news on Archinect:

Boston backs out of 2024 Olympics bid

Toronto ventures into sixth bid to host Olympic Games

Zaha Hadid reportedly not giving up on Tokyo stadium plans

Zaha's Tokyo Olympic Stadium cancelled – Abe calls for a redesign from scratch

New documentary portraits Sérgio Bernardes, Brazil's almost forgotten star

2015-01-12T13:45:00-05:00

Sérgio Bernardes was a star of 60s Brazil, a brilliant architect and a mesmerising man. And then almost forgotten. His grandson has made a film to discover what happened

Rio's ambitious "Porto Maravilha" redevelopment

2015-01-09T14:14:00-05:00

"They should be stimulating residential projects both for richer and poorer people, to make this a mixed area, and not another neighbourhood for privileged Brazilians." - president of the Brazilian Institute of Architecture in Rio, Pedro da Luz

Julia Carneiro writes about the ongoing makeover of Rio's long-abandoned harbour region. Although the project includes a large investment in public infrastructure, there are concerns over the fate 32,000 people, most of them on low incomes who live in the area.

MoMA's “Uneven Growth” case studies conclude with exhibition this month

2014-11-13T13:03:00-05:00

MoMA began its "Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities" initiative last year aiming to advance international discussion on disproportionate urban development and its potential consequences. To address this issue, six interdisciplinary teams spent 14 months in workshops designing proposals that investigate new architectural possibilities for six metropolises. Each case study will be exhibited to the public at MoMA starting on November 22.

But the discussion doesn't end there. MoMA also created a user-generated Tumblr that collects examples of emerging modes of tactical urbanism taking place in the six cities.

Here's a glimpse:

LAGOS
By NLÉ (Lagos, Nigeria and Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Zoohaus/Inteligencias Colectivas (Madrid, Spain)

HONG KONG
By MAP Office (Hong Kong, China)
Network Architecture Lab (Columbia University, New York, U.S.)

ISTANBUL
By Superpool (Istanbul, Turkey)
Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée (Paris, France)

MUMBAI
By URBZ: user-generated cities (Mumbai, India)
Ensamble Studio/MIT-POPlab (Madrid, Spain and Cambridge, U.S.)

RIO DE JANEIRO
By RUA Arquitetos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
MAS Urban Design at ETH (Zurich, Switzerland)

NEW YORK
By SITU Studio (New York, U.S.)
Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra) (Rotterdam, Netherlands AND New York, U.S.)

For further details and images from each case study, head over to Bustler.

Neo-Classical falls foul of Brazil’s love of Baroque

2014-09-02T14:19:00-04:00

Through the free-flowing talent of Costa, Niemeyer, Burle Marx and Athos Bulcão, Brasília—the only city built in the 20th century that is listed by Unesco—has captivated the world since 1960. But the federal capital has not made Modernism sacred in the country as a whole and the protection of Modern architecture is still in its infancy.

Prepping for World Cup, Brazilian police build mock favelas to train officers

2014-06-16T18:51:00-04:00

Police simulations such as these offer a peculiarly spatial insight into the ways humans attempt to make sense of the world. [...] Someone builds a surrogate or a stand-in—a kind of stage-set on which to test their most viable theories—then they control that replicant world down to every curb height and door frame. Architecture then comes along simply as ornamentation, in order to give this virtual world a physical footprint