In the latest episode of The Urbanist, Monocle 24's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team tackle the 'establishment'. From small businesses to citizen collectives, the show discovers how "championing transformative change from the ground up can be the best way to alter the status quo in our cities." Investigating how the Ministry of Space is reclaiming public spaces in Belgrade, how ordinary citizens in Vienna are welcoming refugees, and how a collective in Rio de Janeiro wants to reshape the politics of the city, the episode also explores how small businesses in London’s West End are fighting against increasing rent.
Rio de Janeiro: The Latest Architecture and News
Monocle 24's 'The Urbanist' Speaks to Those Who Are "Fighting the Establishment"
Zaha Hadid Prepares to Break Ground on First Project in Brazil
Zaha Hadid Architects has released more information on their first Brazilian project - a luxury residential building known as Casa Atlântica. Planned for a site on Rio de Janeiro's Avenida Atlântica at Copacabana Beach, the 11-story building features a spine-like facade with expansive balconies and a roof top pool.
"The natural forms of Rio’s morros and beaches generate an elastic, malleable quality within the city’s urban fabric, while the dynamism of Copacabana - with its energy and rhythm - is one of the city’s most important public spaces," says ZHA.
"Casa Atlântica’s design continues the liberating composition and spatial flow inherent within Brazil’s rich Modernist tradition, engaging with the unique tempo and vitality of Copacabana’s urban beach culture, as well as the fluidity of its renowned Burle Marx promenade."
AD Interviews: Santiago Calatrava on the Museum of Tomorrow
Last week marked the opening of Santiago Calatrava's Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro. Prior to the its opening, ArchDaily sat down with Calatrava to learn more about the museum's design and how the project's fruition resulted in the removal of an elevated highway that once isolated the city from the harbor.
Washington Fajardo to Curate Brazilian Pavilion at 2016 Venice Biennale
Rio de Janeiro architect and urban planner Washington Fajardo has been named by the Bienal de São Paulo Foundation as curator of the Brazilian Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2016. Fajardo is president of the Rio World Heritage Institute (Instituto Rio Patrimônio da Humanidade) and the Municipal Council of Cultural Heritage Protection (Conselho Municipal de Proteção do Patrimônio), as well as special advisor to Mayor Eduardo Paes on urban planning issues.
Santiago Calatrava's Museum of Tomorrow Opens in Rio de Janeiro
Santiago Calatrava is celebrating the opening of the Museu do Amanhã (The Museum of Tomorrow) this week in Rio de Janeiro. The highly anticipated museum, built on the Pier Mauá, features a distinct cantilevering roof that stretches 75-meters over the museum's 7,600-square-meter plaza and 45-meters towards the sea.
"The city of Rio de Janeiro is setting an example to the world of how to recover quality urban spaces through drastic intervention and the creation of cultural facilities such as the Museum of Tomorrow and the new Museum of Art,” said Santiago Calatrava. "This vision led us, in our first designs, to propose the addition of a plaza outside the Museum. The plaza creates a more cohesive urban space and reflects the neighborhood’s greater transformation.”
Monocle 24 Report from the CityLab Summit
For this edition of The Urbanist, Monocle 24's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team report from the two-day CityLab summit, which "gathered the world’s top mayors and urban leaders for a series of chats on how to to make our cities a better place." They explore the vision for London’s transport infrastructure, discover how Rio de Janeiro is gearing up its digital strategy ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games, and find out how to create a smart city through data. On top of that, they chat to millennials in Washington and "sit down for a very honest chat with the mayor of Athens."
Gurumê / Bernardes Arquitetura
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Architects: Bernardes Arquitetura
- Area: 150 m²
- Year: 2014
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Manufacturers: Corian
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Professionals: Bernardes Arquitetura, ILuz
The Power of Photography: How Images Continue to Shape the Built Environment
In a culture dominated by smartphones and Instagram, with estimates that over one trillion photographs will be taken this year alone, it might seem impossible for photographs to make and shape issues in the ways they once did. Despite this, images still steer debates with shocking resiliency and, with luck, become iconic in their own right. As architecture is synonymous with placemaking and cultural memory, it is only logical that images of the built environment can have lasting effects on the issues of architecture and urbanism. It's never been easier for photographs to gain exposure than they can today, and with social media and civilian journalism, debates have never started more quickly.
Monocle 24 Explore Architectural Competitions and 'Failed Bids'
For this week's edition of The Urbanist, Monocle's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team discuss urbanism projects that were planned and never realised, what 'paper architecture' really is, and the importance of the architectural competition.
In The Urbanist, Andrew Tuck explores how a terrace of old town houses in central London (152-158 The Strand, near Somerset House) have been recently saved from demolition by the efforts of campaigning journalists and a sympathetic public. In Brazil, the yet to be seen high-speed train link between Rio di Janeiro and São Paulo meets scrutiny while in Toronto, five unsuccessful architectural bids are examined. Finally, ArchDaily Editor James Taylor-Foster visits their London studio to talk about the architectural competition, from Brunelleschi to Guggenheim and Den Bosch.
Monocle 24 Take a Trip to Rio de Janeiro's Near-Complete Olympic Village
For this week's edition of Section D, Monocle 24's weekly review of design, architecture and craft, the Monocle team take a trip to the near-complete Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro, plus take a look at the history of the US Embassy in Havanna. The latest edition of The Urbanist explores etiquette and politeness in the metropolis, examining the unspoken rules of conduct that make our cities tick and delve into the psychology of 'urban etiquette'.
Listen to both episodes after the break.
Primary School MOPI Extension / Mareines+Patalano Arquitetura
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Architects: Mareines+Patalano Arquitetura
- Area: 5610 m²
- Year: 2015
Construction Well Underway on Santiago Calatrava’s Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro
Construction of Santiago Calatrava’s Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) in Rio de Janeiro is underway and on-track to be completed in the second half of 2015. Located on the Pier Mauá, the museum will encompass a 15,000m2 built area and include gardens, leisure areas, bike paths, and a reflective pool, totaling over 30,000m2. The ground floor of the museum will include a store, auditorium, temporary exhibit rooms, a restaurant, administrative offices and space for research and educational activities. The upper floor, connected to the ground floor with ramps, will include long-term exhibits, a café and a panoramic lookout.
Shelter Global Announces 2015 Dencity Competition Winners
International architecture non-profit Shelter Global has announced the winners of its 2015 Dencity Competition. Out of 300 entries from 50 different countries, three winners and six special mentions were selected.
The competition’s goal was “to foster new ideas on how to handle the growing density of unplanned cities and to spread awareness of the massive problem,” and jury members sought out project designs that empower communities and allow for self-sufficiency. Read about the three winners, after the break.
Capela Joá / Bernardes Arquitetura
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Architects: Bernardes Arquitetura
- Year: 2014
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Manufacturers: Alwitra, Ita Construtora, Marcenaria Baraúna, SJL
SICPA – Security Ink and Systems Factory / LoebCapote Arquitetura e Urbanismo
GN Apartment / Studio Arthur Casas
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Architects: Studio Arthur Casas
- Year: 2013
Midrash / Isay Weinfeld
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Architects: Isay Weinfeld
- Area: 395 m²
- Year: 2009
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Professionals: AVM, EG Design, Guiper Engenharia, Harmonia Acústica, Kreimer Engenharia
Casa 12x12 / Bernardes Arquitetura
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Architects: Bernardes Arquitetura
- Area: 550 m²
- Year: 2013
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Professionals: Bernardes Arquitetura, Studio Iluz