The winning project of the Olympic Port, which aims at the revitalization and redevelopment of 850 square meters of the port city of Rio de Janeiro, was announced at the headquarters of the Brazilian Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB-RJ) in Rio de Janeiro. The project includes the construction of facilities such as the media and referees villages, a five-star hotel, a convention center and business center that will be used during the 2016 Olympics Games and will be a legacy for the city. More over, this urban intervention leverages the entire project of Marvelous Port Recovery Center of Rio de Janeiro. The winning project was created by Brazilian architect and urban planner João Pedro Backheuser in collaboration with Catalan architect Ignasi Riera’s office. The second, third and fourth projects were coordinated by Brazilian architects Roberto Aflalo, Espadon Francisco and Jorge Jauregui, respectively. The first place guarantees that the project will be executed in, at least, 40% of the area. The city administration can alson use parts of the awarded projects.
About the winning project: “The city should never be treated as a museum”
The partnership between the brazilian architect João Pedro Backheuser (master’s degree in urban planning at Columbia University / NY) and the office of the Catalan architect Ignasi Riera has a symbolic value, since the model of the legacy that Rio de Janeiro wants to follow is that of Barcelona’s.
The project will house the media and referees villages, a convention center, a hotel and a business center. “We seek to create a new articulation of the public space, giving back to the city would be private spaces such as the convention center, which will be underground and whose rooftop will be a public terrace with gardens and lot’s of green, and will give access to the five buildings business center”, said John Peter Backheuser. A five-star, 150 meters high with 45 floors hotel will also be built. In the Praia Formosa area, near to the bus station, the media and referee villages having three, ten or twenty floors, after the Olympic Games, will be transformed into residential areas, commercial offices and services.
“The city should never be treated as a museum. The idea is that urban renewal goal is to bring life back. More than a plan of construction works, the proposed redevelopment should be understood as a process of political reconstruction of the city, ” the architect concludes.
In July, the winning project will be presented by the 2016 organizing committee to the International Olympic Committee in Durban, South Africa. In August, the result of the international competition that will select the General Urban Plan of the Rio 2016 Olympic Park will be released.
Architect: João Pedro Backheuser with Ignasi Riera Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
