Five Associations of Ideas for Rio de Janeiro’s Architectural Environment

Copacabana Board Walk by Roberto Burle Marx | Picture ©MauMach75

The pandemic changed the urban life radically. While sitting at home, not being able to guide tours, we made reflections about the impact of the pandemic and the city in general. This blog entry is a collection of five associations of ideas by Barbara Iseli.

1. Emptiness

A metropolis like Rio de Janeiro is always busy and crowded. During the lockdown the marvelous city is not to be recognized with its empty places and I am wondering how it would be to explore the “ghost city”. A place I would love to visit now, is Copacabana Beach. Who is not dreaming about having this urban beach for oneself? Looking at the open ocean while having the densest neighborhood of the city, with more than 40’000 inhabitants per built square kilometer, at your back appears to be totally unreal.

While dreaming about it, I realize what makes the beach so special and what I am actually missing: it’s the mix of people; the sun worshippers carefully smearing tanning oil on their bodies, the men and women trying keeping a football in the air as long as possible by passing it to each other, the shouting ambulant beach vendors etc. sharing this public space generously and creating a unique and warm atmosphere.

2. Virtuality

While locked in our apartments, we can use the internet to travel around the world and gain insights using aerial and street views. Some architectural projects can be observed even better from a bird’s eye view than while walking through the city. We all know the wave pattern on the Copacabana beach boardwalk. Less known, but not less impressive, is the drawing on the sidewalks between the lanes of the avenue and in front of the buildings: Roberto Burle Marx drew a geometrically abstract pattern with three different colors of cobblestone. The so called “Portuguese Stone” exists in red, black and white. We recommend having a sunset drink on one of the hotel rooftops at the beach front - when allowed to travel again, of course. Cheers!

3. Revitalization

Looking at the city’s scale and urbanism; how does Rio de Janeiro deal with old or abandoned buildings and areas? Coming from Europe, the unrestrained way of how historical and contemporary buildings are standing next to each other in Rio de Janeiro is absolutely striking. The magnificent eclectic Municipal Opera (Teatro Municipal)  at the Cinelândia Square are both results of an urban renewal from the beginning of the last century. Today, the opera is towered out by several buildings right to each other and nobody is questioning it. As another example, just one block away from the historic Paço Imperial, the government seat of the Portuguese crown in the 19th century, stands the 140 meter high tower of Candido Mendes University. Rio de Janeiro keeps reinventing itself again and again. Many buildings suddenly come to exist only on paper and in memories, and leave room for the new ones.

4. Hidden in Secrecy

Rio de Janeiro has a lot to offer for curious city-wanderers when strolling around. For instance, I always love to walk through Centro, Copacabana and Ipanema, exploring beautiful entrance halls and shopping galleries. The modernist idea of open ground floors has conquered widespread the city blocks of Rio de Janeiro, among other reasons, also thanks to the tropical climate. I recommend visiting well known galleries like the Galeria Menescal or the Antiquarian Shopping from the 1950s and 60s in Copacabana. If you just meander around aimlessly, you are likely to be swallowed by one of many other small entrances unfolding to an unexpectedly large labyrinth or hall as big as the belly of a whale upon entering.

5. Valuableness

How can we make a significant difference for the environment while building a city? A metropolis with 12 million inhabitants and a huge gap between rich and poor faces enormous challenges regarding to ‘useful’ and modest architecture and more organized urban development. Individual so-called certified sustainable buildings do not really change the game. Not only can these certificates be questioned, but also it is rather important to create awareness in society, and look for simple and effective concepts easy to implement. Some most pressing in Rio de Janeiro are for example connecting the communities to the sewage system, providing qualitative education, or creating awareness, which can make a huge difference in the long run. The last three decades, the city has already taken various steps in this direction and hopefully continues doing this in the future furthermore.