As part of a package of investments for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the regeneration of 85 hectares of land near the old docks will create more than 1 million sqm of apartments, hotels, office buildings and a convention centre. The project addresses two moments: the support facilities for the 2016 Olympic Games (10,600-room accommodation for media and referees, a media-centre and 3 to 5-star hotels) and the legacy post-Games where the first buildings are to be incorporated into a vibrant mixed-use extension of the city centre.
The project encompasses two main sites separated by a wide canal traffic avenue: the West site would house a media complex and convention centre, whereas the East site would become a mixed-use neighbourhood.
We envisage a green loop circuit of public spaces embracing the whole master plan to encourage pedestrian and bicycle use to link the various dissociated sites and connecting the whole area to the nearby to-be-revitalised waterfront.
To the West, we designed a convention centre with a multiple-high pre-function atrium integrated to the four commercial and hotel towers fronting the main road. Above the convention facility, semi-private green roofs provide additional open space for hotel and service apartment residents.
To the East, a new high-dense residential neighbourhood emerges. Intricate building mass combining towers, low-rise volumes, podiums and elevated terraces ensures architectural variety whilst allowing a mixture of street level shops and services, public and semi-private elevated green spaces underground parking.
Implemented sustainable strategies included building orientation, façade treatments, external shading devices, green roofs and grey water recycling.
