26 Feb Architecture and placemaking observations from Brazil: Brasilia
Our director Diane likes to start the year outside the UK and this year she visited Brazil, which turned into something of an architecture/built environment tour. Here, she shares her observations and some urban environment lessons from her trip. Her first stop was Brasilia, the purpose-built capital in the desert.
On the way in from the airport, it looked very much like the type of place she wouldn’t visit… multiple lanes of traffic, little visible pavement and no sense of a centre. An afternoon walk revealed there to be plenty of people around but in defined areas with few in the spaces in between. Diane would come to understand why on a cycle tour the next day and shares her views.
The city was built in under four years, becoming Brazil’s capital in 1960 (replacing Rio de Janeiro). It was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, with urban planner Lucio Costa and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx involved in many aspects, too.
It was planned like an aeroplane with a north and south wing (axis) and dedicated activities in each area: hotel zone, university zone, hospital zone, etc. The architecture is modernist in style and influenced by Le Corbusier, one of the pioneers of modern architecture.
The city is considered to be one of the best examples of 20th-century modernist urbanism and is protected, making it the first modern site to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, this means that outside the city edges, it’s unregulated, leading to the creation of the largest favela in Brazil.
At the time, it would have been a hard job to sell relocation to government workers based in Rio de Janeiro on the coast to relocate to a new city in the desert. The Bank of Brazil built some of the superblocks (the huge planned residential developments) and enticed their employees to relocate. The bank still owns some of the blocks.
We visited one of the ‘Superblocks’, which has c3,000 residents across six storeys, surrounded by planting, shops and amenities. It had a church, cinema, health centre, education facilities and library. Other zones in the city are dedicated to hotels, banking, offices and medical facilities but these aren’t a walkable distance.
To determine the number of storeys, we were told that a mother was asked to shout to her child and the sixth floor was the highest she could go and still be heard.
The tour stopped at the huge city park, which, during the dry season (May-Sep), would be packed with families and those enjoying the sports facilities. Nearby was a music school, a stadium (built for the 2014 World Cup) and a Metro stop. Taking a bike on the Metro was easy, with ramps and wide gates, and it was the cleanest Metro (subway) I’ve ever been on.
We came above ground near the bus station, the only part of Brasilia that felt like being in South America: chaotic, busy with people and transport and not planned on the same scale as the rest of the city.
Heading on, we reached the Monumental Axis (street), home to The Ministries, literally slab block buildings housing different government departments. With no facilities such as shops and restaurants around them, lunch options are from food stalls, similar to a street food market you would find in the UK.
Close to The Ministries are more key government buildings, with the National Congress often referred to as ‘the saucers’, the presidential palace fronting Three Powers Square with its modernist sculptures and the History Museum of Brasilia showing pictures of its creation in the desert.
What to make of the city
- The city has been built for the car. There are 10-lane roads in some places, and although there are pavements and pedestrianised crossings, the wait to cross is long, reinforcing the priority for vehicles.
- There are many parks to break up the highways, which I imagine would be well-used in better weather. In the wet season they are somewhat desolate spaces to navigate on foot with no protection from wind and rain.
- It is a fully self-contained city with a university, a leisure area (bars and restaurants) around a manmade lake, a stadium, hospitals and everything people might need, but it feels cut off/in a bubble. You need to fly to get anywhere.
- The superblocks, in concept, are similar to a 15-minute neighbourhood with amenities close by and work likely to be no more than 20 minutes drive away. However, the rest of the city is the opposite, focused on single-building use in dedicated zones.
- Residential rents are high as those working there, particularly in the public sector, are well paid. But that has created high levels of inequality for those servicing the city, such as road sweepers, bus drivers and cleaners, hence the creation of the favela. Perhaps not dissimilar to the situation in London and the disparity between those servicing the city and the location of affordable homes.
- Transport for poorer residents is difficult as the Metro doesn’t currently serve the areas where many people live outside the city. There are hopes it will be extended, but until then, it’s a long journey by bus.
Cathedral
Metro
National Museum
Lessons we can learn
There is money to maintain the superblocks and government buildings, and people like living and working in them. This is in contrast to the UK, where slab-style housing blocks in places like Elephant & Castle have been demolished, and office blocks from the 1960s have, in some cases, long gone.
Brasilia experienced mixed fortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was plenty of space to be outside, but the shopping malls and offices have not recovered with buildings in some zones remaining empty.
The UK faces the same challenge. Given the popularity and care of older buildings in Brasilia, will it become an example of how to do this well in the next few years as, here in the UK, we look to refurbish more rather than demolish?
The architecture of the 1960s might not be to everyone’s taste, but Brasilia shows that the buildings aren’t always to blame for failing; rather, there is a lack of investment in their care. In the UK, slab blocks of flats often had no maintenance budget allocated to them, and they quickly failed.
Its car-based culture is the opposite of how the UK is developing, and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and school streets wouldn’t work in Brasilia. Distances and journeys have been planned around the car, and many are too long by bus. In some cases, UK cities outside London are still overly reliant on owning a car as public transport does not provide a viable option.
Brasilia was incredibly clean. Was this due to the low number of people living there and people driving, rather than walking, reducing the spread of litter?
The public sector is a highly sought-after career that is well-paid. You have to pass an exam to be able to apply for jobs, as opposed to the UK, where the public sector is often not considered an option by many. However, it’s almost a one-industry town, which creates a lack of diversity, very unlike the other places visited in Brazil.
Having designated zones for activities seems outdated, and some areas of the city are likely to become mothballed in the future. People need many reasons to visit places rather than one, as we have seen in the UK with the closure and redevelopment of shopping centres.
Brasilia is both slightly strange and incredible… a manmade planned city in the desert, packed with architectural wonders, greenery and lakes. It is certainly worth visiting if you are interested in architecture, urban environments or in experiencing a different type of city.
More on Brazil next month