21 Mar Built environment observations from Brazil part 2: Rio to São Paulo
Continuing her travels around Brazil, our director Diane charts her observations on the architecture and urban places from Rio to São Paulo and lessons that can be learned.
Rio de Janeiro
An incredibly diverse and beautiful city with wide-ranging architectural styles from the 18th century to space age museums and a modernist cathedral, Rio is a collection of very different neighbourhoods.
A highlight was the Contemporary Art Museum, across the bay from Rio. You can take a ferry there or cross the Rio–Niterói Bridge, the second longest bridge in Latin America. The museum looks like it has been dropped from space or was once part of a James Bond film set.
With a curved red walkway heading to the entrance, the views were stunning in every direction. Once inside, the views were showcased again via panoramic windows overlooking Rio’s beaches across the bay.
It was a bright, sunny afternoon, making the building’s white finish and bold colours stand out further in what was primarily a residential neighbourhood.
On the way, there is also a theatre complex designed by Oscar Niemeyer. It looked quite abandoned and needed some work, but if restored, it would be another set of buildings worth visiting.
Like London, Rio exists in a series of neighbourhoods rather than having a core city centre. Along the bay, the suburbs merge into each other from Copacabana to Ipanema to Lebron. There are no defining features to make it obvious where they start and finish, similar to some parts of London where neighbourhoods blur with only a tube station name to differentiate.
Other parts of Rio, such as the historic centre and Santa Teresa areas, are clearly defined by the buildings and topography, which is more akin to how Liverpool’s Albert Dock is different from Anfield.
The downtown area is zoned in a similar way to Brasilia [read more in part one]. While served by the Metro, it’s an area for work only: offices, some retail and food and drink, but no residential these areas risk becoming a home for vulnerable people with problems during the quiet times.
We see in our work in the UK that places closely aligned to a variety of needs and distinct in look and feel are more resilient through changing times. We are having to unpick the ‘work and retail’ only city and town centre model by adding leisure and other reasons for people to visit which seems to be the opposite of Brazil’s approach.
Pampulha Modern Ensemble
Pampulha is a modernist suburb located approximately six miles from the city of Belo Horizonte.
Built in the 1940s around an artificial lake, it predates Brasilia and was also designed by Oscar Niemeyer. In 2016, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Cultural Landscape category.
It arose from a vision of the then-mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek. Niemeyer, Burle Marx (landscape architect), Candido Portinari (painter) and Kubitschek are shown in a sculpture (pictured) admiring the view across the lagoon. Niemeyer said: “Pampulha was the beginning of my life as an architect”.
Kubitschek later became president of Brazil and decided to move the capital from Rio to Brasília to showcase Brazil to the world as a modern country.
There are several significant buildings, from a tennis club and yacht club to a church, historic houses, and the Casa do Baile, which hosts events. There is also Kubitschek’s former home, which has been left as it was and provides a guide to residential buildings of that era.
It felt like a self-contained leisure neighbourhood rather than where people lived, which is how it was designed.
The lake has sports facilities and, going around it, a walking and cycling track. On a Sunday, it was the place to be with many from the city walking, cycling, enjoying the pool at the Yacht Club and the street carts selling coconuts and snacks.
Discussion of its origins refer to it being a ‘garden city’ suburb of Belo Horizonte, the city nearby. It would be fascinating to compare it with UK garden cities,
Sao Paulo
The Edifício Copan in São Paulo, designed by Niemeyer, was finished in 1966. It’s one of the largest buildings in the country, with 1,160 apartments and 70 commercial units.
It is so large the postal service gives the building its own postcode. It is believed to house c5,000 residents today. The closest comparison in the UK would be the Barbican Estate in London, which has c2,000 apartments alongside an arts complex and commercial units.
Edifício Copan has 72 million exterior tiles that need to be repaired. Netting went up in 2014, but work has yet to start showing the scale of the work involved and the complexity of contracting.
This was quite different from Brasilia where, as the nation’s capital, works are carried out swiftly and the buildings looked to be in a good state.
There are examples of stalled schemes in the UK, such as some of the buildings having their cladding removed. Scaffolding can be up for years which can have a negative impact on a feeling of safety for residents and pedestrians at ground level.
Businesses and other amenities might move on if they feel issues aren’t progressing, leading to a slow decline. So it’s important that buildings don’t languish for as long as this one has.
Cine Real Brasil, Belo Horizonte
Museum of Tomorrow, Rio
Pampulha Complex
Part one of Diane’s travels in Brazil can be viewed here.
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