Rio de Janeiro: The Latest Architecture and News

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) will launch Studio-X Rio this week with Dean Mark Wigley in attendance. Studio-X Rio is GSAPP’s global network of advanced research laboratories for exploring the future of cities. With locations in Amman, Beijing, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, and now Rio de Janeiro, it is the first truly global network for real-time exchange of projects, people, and ideas between regional leadership cities in which the best minds from Columbia University can think together with the best minds in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Here’s a video about Unsolicited Architecture, a collaborative workshop initiated by Studio-X Rio + NAI in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. In a 24 hour time period four teams were formed, four neighborhoods were explored (they each explored the neighborhood where the local architect’s office is located), held a brainstorming session, and then presented their ideas – zero clients, zero budget.

German-Persian photographer Patricia Parinejad will exhibit a selection of photographs at the Niteroi’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro composed in the context of a comprehensive photographic essay of Oscar Niemeyer’s buildings during the last five years.

Earlier this week we presented you an interesting proposal for the Environment Museum Annex Competition and now we received an honorable mention winner, from Lompreta Nolte Arquitetos - Daniel Feldman and Elizabeth Añaños.

The Botanical Garden, one of the oldest institutions in all Brazil, is a space of great relevance for the city of Rio de Janeiro. With around 600 thousand visitants each year, it is an important touristic spot, orientated to environmental and scientific education as well as leisure, and recently also cultural program.

Antonio Pedro Coutinho shared with us the entry he designed with Estelle Dugachard, Fabiana Araújo, Nanda Eskes, Ricardo Caruana for the competition regarding the expansion of the Environment Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main challenge dealt in this competition was finding a way where the architecture would be inserted on the ecosystem where it was being planned; the magnificent Botanical Garden of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

More images and description after the break.