OLD HARBOUR TRANSFORMATION

[RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL]

Design & Build Brazil is an educational project from Hogeschool van Amsterdam and it was preceded by two studies: in 2006 three students did a research and made a design for low-cost housing in the small Brazilian city São José do Vale do Rio Preto and in 2007 two students made a design for a different location in the same town. Based on these prior studies, Design & Build Brazil was set up in 2007. The project started with a broad research on social housing in 2008 by a group of 6 students from various universities. In the first half of 2009, the second phase of the project, five student teams made low-cost technical designs for a complex of about 40 apartments. In the second half of 2009, various students do internships in Rio de Janeiro at the architectural office Chiq da Silva and at Fundação Bento Rubião, a NGO that works in the field of social housing and human rights. Aiming to exchange ideas and knowledge and to strengthen the network of students, professors and professionals, the HvA organises in November 2009 a symposium about Social Housing. In the first semester of 2010, the third phase of the project, the best designs are planned to be built in Brazil.

The location of the Design & Build Brazil project is orientated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The exact location is in the North of this city in a harbour area, which is shown in the picture above. This area has its own identity, as it used to be the logistical harbour of Rio de Janeiro. Since a few years, its function got lost, because the logistical harbour moved further up North. Now, this area is an abandoned area with old warehouses and squatters. It became a passing area, with a high rise freeway, which connects the South of the city with the North. Simultaneously, it has the oldest favela of the city and that favela is still expanding as we speak. This area is also divided from the rest of the city by the mountains, the large roads and no connection by public transportation. The area is surrounded by the sea, but this when walking through the area, there’s no sense of the sea. There are no tourists and no tourist attractions. The only reason for tourists, residents and locals to come to this area is the large train station in the South of the harbour, the bus station in the West and the cruise terminal in the North-East.

This area has lots of abandoned warehouses and open spaces, such as an old train station and oil refinery. The edges of this area are connect­ed with the mountain hills. This means that so­lutions have to be created to attack the water problems during heavy rainfall. On the North side of the project area is the sea, where a range of old warehouses are located. Close to the sea is the large bus station, which is an attraction for locals and tourists. On the West side of the harbour it is divided by the canal, which can be integrated within the master plan. This area is a dangerous place to build new buildings, because the inhabitants of the favela are likely to take over the public space and ex­pand their favela with own build home, build against the existing buildings. Public space and buildings need to be designed, so these circumstances cannot happen.

In addition to the location, a plan for the Olympic Games in 2016 will have to be implemented into the area. Can we build low cost housing that can be built by inhabitants themselves to accommodate athletes during the Olympic Games and transform into social housing after the Games? The project will explore the area in detail and will focus on a master plan, social housing options and technical aspects.

CLICK PICTURE FOR DETAILLED INFORMATION.