Archinect - Cultural effects on the Built Environment in Rio de Janeiro

Day 5 / Rio de Janeiro

2013-11-29T20:48:38-05:00

Rain Day again... We pretty much just ate and rode the taxi around the town to and from places that we were eating at. Trying to get a different perspective of the city other than walking everywhere.

Day 4 / Rio de Janeiro

2013-11-29T19:53:00-05:00

Today being Sunday and still too cloudy to go do some of the tourist site seeing, instead we went to the Hippy Fair that they have every weekend in Praça General Osório. It's filled with homemade goods, food, art and all kinds of other little trinkets you might love to have, there is live music and like always good fried food to keep you full for the next couple hours. The paintings that the artists had there were my favorite, I wish i should have gotten one for our new apartment back in Denver, but dealing with making sure it didn't get damaged on the journey back would just be added stress to the already stressful and tiring event of flying across the globe. It was a really great time looking at all the things that the people create.

I don't have any pictures from this because there was a robbery on the beach yesterday and I thought i would leave my camera back in the apartment to not draw attention to myself. Some events that I may go on may not have pictures and I apologi...

Day 3 / Rio de Janeiro

2013-11-25T21:01:00-05:00

Today was raining and cloudy all day! So we decided to go downtown and see MAR - Rio's Museum of Art, it recently finished this year and was done by architecture firm Jacobsen Arquitetura http://www.jacobsenarquitetura.com/projetos/?CodProjeto=12 . The museum combines the older existing building with a new building that houses the administrative offices, auditorium, staff offices and educational programs for the city of Rio.

When you enter from the ground level into the open outdoor space which doubles as a sculpture gallery. People can hang out enjoy the outdoor space, relax in the gift shop or the cafe next door. There is a smaller glass canopy that will shelter you from the rain when waiting to get your tickets or enjoying your cafe outdoors.

After you get your ticket, you are then directed to the elevator which then takes you to the top level of the new building. This level serves as an observation deck and there is also a bar / bistro up there too. From here yo...

Day 2 / Rio de Janeiro

2013-11-22T21:02:00-05:00

Today was filled with Farmers market, Cafe Expresso's and a lot of walking... and rain....

Above is a representation of the typical apartment building street front in Rio de Janeiro. Parking garage and entrance is off the front street, not in the back, there is none... It always has some sort of security gate or metal fencing up to prevent intruders and people that are unwelcome. The ground level is always faced with very nice materials such as Brazilian teak siding, marble slabs, mosaic tiling, frosted glass or what ever the owner has in their head to do. From the second level up, form follows function, the programs stacked to allow for efficiency and ease of building construction. The buildings structures are all cast in place concrete. The higher value apartments or buildings will usually have balconies for the tenant. Street fronts are always heavily planted allowing another layer of design to the neighborhood.

Above is a picture of Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, It is ...

Day 1 / Rio de Janeiro

2013-11-22T19:58:00-05:00

Today was my first time ever in a different country other than the United States. I have never been so excited in my life. The opportunity to travel to these amazing places in the world is truly awesome! I feel very grateful for this opportunity to be able to be here.

On our descent into Rio de Janeiro I began taking photos of the landscape below. The rich deep red soil sticks out so clearly from 30k feet in the air. You can see patches of farming and the rain forests intertwined with each other. You start to see small structures that are scattered from here to there. As we get closer to the city you start to see more and more buildings and structures. When arriving into the International Airport (Galeão - Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport) you come in from the west inland as opposed to the city airport (Santos Dumont Airport) where you enter from the east over the ocean giving you the iconic image of Rio de Janeiro.

From the west you can see the Favelas th...