MARÍA FLUXÁ
Brazil
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 - 3:38 PM
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Rio de Janeiro premieres this 2020 the title of world capital of architecture , a recognition that Unesco, together with the International Union of Architects, will grant from now on every three years, to "demonstrate the crucial role of architecture and culture in sustainable urban development ”, in the words of its promoters. It is a title "more than deserved", in the words of Brazilian expert Rafael Bokor . In this way, the Brazilian city not only shows off the carnival world mecca title , which will take place this year from February 21 to 26 with all the boato, energy and fun that characterizes it, but also of architecture.
«Rio de Janeiro, in addition to being one of the cities with the most natural attractions, is also the guardian of countless examples of houses and buildings with styles ranging from colonial to art deco and modern. That union of nature with the different architectural styles is what gives the Marvelous City its uniqueness », continues the founder and author of Rio Casas & Prédios Antigos , who on weekends organizes tours through the old buildings of the city.
Open air museum
Despite its fantastic orography, its postcard beaches , its lush forests that hide waterfalls and its unlimited energy, architecture has always been the protagonist in this city that the Portuguese confused, a January 1502, with the mouth of a river -de there his name-, although it was a capricious bay , Guanabara's.
Since then, Rio has been adapting disparate styles to become that open-air museum that makes its inhabitants - the Cariocas - can only call it Cidade Maravilhosa . «A panoramic view of the city makes us travel from the immense magmatic rocks and its lush vegetation to the colonial buildings that stand the test of time; from the white sands of Ipanema to the equally white and pristine modern architecture of Oscar Niemeyer; from the beauty of the Portuguese Neomanuelino to the raw and colorful bricks of the favelas »explains art historian Sandra Perrone, enthusiastic official guide of both Rio and Florence (Italy).
«Thus, Rio translates into a symphony of forms. Walking for less than 10 minutes you can admire both colonial spaces conceived by Brigadeiro José Fernández Pinto Alpoim, and the first art deco skyscraper in Latin America designed by Joseph Gire; as well as the organic postmodernism of Santiago Calatrava or the influences of Le Corbusier in the wonderful Capanema Palace », concludes Perrone.
Architectural dialogue
The center of the former imperial capital is pure architectural dialogue between the baroque-colonial ( Paço Imperial) , the Neomanuelino ( Royal Portuguese Reading Cabinet ), the eclectic ( Municipal Theater ), the neoclassical ( Candelaria church ), the art deco (central station of Brazil), the modern movement in its local version or carioca school ( Capanema Palace ), the postmodern ( Petrobras headquarters) and the contemporary ( Rio Art Museum ) of Jacobsen and Bernardes.
Nearby is the Amanhã Museum signed by Santiago Calatrava, which together with a tower of Norman Foster (and an unfinished Diller + Scofidio in Copacabana), forms the scant representation of international star architects. In an increasingly homogeneous world, Rio has the quality of only resembling Rio.
The elegant neighborhood of Flamengo stands out for its art deco, such as its residences (Biarritz building) and churches (Holy Trinity), but especially for the so-called terrro (paradigmatic work of the Carioca school), a 1,200 m2 park of the architect and Brazilian landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, which runs from Santos Dumont airport to the start of Botafogo beach, in front of Pão de Açúcar.
Copacabana, a mythical beach
After this nose that marks the always sensual silhouette of Rio Copacabana appears. His walk was also the work of Burle Marx and contrasts with the profuse and chaotic life that takes place behind its glamorous beachfront facade. The art deco also prevails here.
There is nothing like visiting its interiors, Rafael Bokor explains, because "it is a time travel that few cities in the world can provide." Thus, the lavish Belmond Copacabana Palace hotel or the Ypiranga building are unmissable, to name a couple, in whose attic Oscar Niemeyer had his studio for decades.
There are many works of the most famous carioca architect of all time in his city: the first was a nursery (still standing today) in the Lagoa, not far from his hospital of the same name. It remains - battered - its own residence, Casa das Canoas in São Conrado, the newly reopened Prudential theater in Flamengo, as well as the mythical Sambadrome . However, it is possible that his most iconic works are those of Niteroi, the city that stands on the other side of the bay, whose greatest attraction, say the Cariocas, are precisely the views of Rio.
The biggest favela in Brazil
Arpoador separates Copacabana from Ipanema, the most desirable residential neighborhood today, with some interesting contemporary Brazilian architecture addresses, such as the Havaianas flagship store by Paulista Isay Weinfeld (his is also the Midrash Cultural Center in nearby Leblon) or the building Aníbal by Thiago Bernardes , third generation of a family that is an entire chapter in the history of Brazilian architecture.
In Gávea, the Moreira Salles Institute is essential and on the beach of São Conrado the National Hotel designed by Niemeyer has just reopened. To reach it, you will have to go through the Acoustic tunnel, on which the so-called Minhocão , a residential complex with 328 housing cells signed by Affonso Eduardo Reidy, winds. There is also the Rocinha , the largest favela in Brazil (143 hectares), inseparable from the architecture and urbanism of Rio.
Just as Rio is dotted with these communities, other indispensable architectural points are also missing here in this inexhaustible city. Because as Stefan Zweig wrote in 1941: «After Rio, all cities seem faded, monotonous, too tidy, too simple. Everything seems empty, tasteless, disenchanted, compared to the divine multiplicity of Rio ».
Practical Guide
How to get
The Iberia company flies daily to Rio from Madrid from 622 euros.
Where to sleep
For art deco lovers, at the Belmond Copacabana Palace. De Niemeyer, the National Hotel, from 100 euros. From the contemporary Brazilian architecture, the Hotel Arpoador de Bernardes Arquitetura, from 130 euros.
More information
Tours in Spanish with Sandra Perrone (sbombita@yahoo.com) and in Portuguese with Rafael Bokor (Instagram: @riocasaseprediosantigos). See also the website www.visit.rio
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