Machado and Silvetti Associates shared with us their entry for the Olympic Port Competition that came in fourth place. This project proposal for the 2016 Olympic Media Village in Rio de Janeiro includes housing for 11,000 people, retail and office space, a 5-star hotel and a convention center. To accommodate post-Olympic marketing of the buildings the entire residential and office program has the capacity to be transformed from a hotel setting with individually accessed bedrooms and private baths to two- and three-bedroom apartments and leasable tenant space.
The Mangue Canal dividing both the competition sites and the port district is at once both the central point of civic interest, with its storied history, as well as The obstacle that is currently preventing the Port District from functioning as a cohesive urban place.
Responding to the rich civic history of the port district and the Mangue Canal, the project provides new modes of connectivity through realigned streets and reconfigured public space. The master plan creates a new prominent avenue/axis in the city that aligns with the harbor edges and whose geometry is picked up in the forms of the proposed buildings. The placement of the public park along the canal effectively opens the sky to allow the tall 5-star hotel, sitting with the convention and exhibition center, to act as the prominent centerpiece of this landmark district.
Architect: Machado and Silvetti Associates with Jorge Mario Jáuregui Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Project Area: 450,000 sqm Competition Year: 2011
