Rio 2016 Masterplan revealed few days ago…AECOM winning the design competition.
The first international architecture competition held in the country achieved – literally – a globalized result. The English firm AECOM – with the American Bill Hanway as chief architect and Brazilian Daniel Gusmão as project author (architecture/master planning) – won the International Competition for the Master Plan of Rio 2016 Olympic Park. AECOM is also responsible for London 2012 Olympic Park Master Plan. The name AECOM is an acronym for Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations and Management.
The announcement of the three winning projects and the three honorable mentions demonstrated the international character of the contest: a Brazilian, an Australian and a Portuguese firm received the honorable mentions. As for the three winning projects, the third place went to the project signed by Portuguese architect Tomás Fernandes Almeida Salgado; the second, to architect Ron Turner, representing an American firm which was associated with the Brazilian firms CDC (Coutinho, Diegues and Lamb) and MPG (Miguel Pinto Guimarães ); the winner was the English project. For the following three images, don’t need to read the words but just focus on how the site transforms during and after the Olympics 2016.
“It’s a competition for the General Urban Plan. Soon, as announced by Mayor Eduardo Paes, the equipment that will compose the Park will be determined through specific architectural competitions in the next months,” says Sergio Magalhães, IAB/RJ president. Two scenarios were considered: the Olympic Games mode, which would ensure the best conditions for the performance of the sporting competitions, and the Legacy mode, which would ensure the viability of installing new, sustainable enterprises after the Olympics.
. The Olympic Park has an area of 1,18 million square meters and will host 15 Olympic and 11 Paralympics sports contests. In addition to the existing equipment – such as the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, the Rio Arena and the Cycle Track -, the project includes the construction of temporary facilities (such as the hockey center, the tennis courts and the sponsors villa), permanent equipment (science and sports laboratory, athletic track, Olympic hall, media center and hotel, residential, commercial and leisure enterprises), and the preservation of the green areas system.
According to the jury, the winning project stood out mainly because of the concept of operation, separate access for athletes and the audience, the logistics for the transport system, the viability of implementation and a unique access for parking. In the legacy that the project will leave to the city, the highlights were environmental preservation and the viability of maintaining and preserving the lagoon. It’s impossible to read the words in the image below but I think it focuses on the sustainability features of the masterplan:
“The Olympic Park will be an urban development of international standard, which not only promotes the best in design, technology, sports and culture, but also satisfies intrinsic urgent and vital needs to its residents, businesses and the environment. Using our experience, we want to ensure that the investment and energy focused on the Barra neighborhood will promote the greatest possible benefit in the long term, “says Bill Hanway, an American who has been living in London for 14 years. He graduated from Washington University (St. Louis, MO), with a post-graduate degree from the School of Design at Harvard University. . In addition to the operational responsibilities for the global firm AECOM, Bill also provides the design leadership and management of multidisciplinary teams delivering projects in the UK, Continental Europe, the US and the Middle East. His UK work focuses on urban regeneration projects, spending the last five years on developing the London 2012 Olympic and Legacy master plan.
“Reconciling the needs of staging a global sporting event and of a successful and lasting new urban structure is a challenge that our three Master Plans propose to resolve by overcoming the large and small complexities of the Games, allowing a clear and practical approach for the project implementation. Our proposal is an Olympic park of international standard comprising permanent and temporary structures on which the new network of streets and squares of the future city will be located, “added the winner.
(Information above extracted from the following source: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/brazil/rio_2016_olympic_park_masterplan.htm)
From my perception, I like the way the winning company brought forward the attention on the modes which transformed from the games in 2016 to its future as a legacy, with emphasis on sustainability and redevelopment of the area to prevent the case of white elephant and avoids escalating cost of maintenance of the whole Olympic Park after 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is very much similar pattern to the London 2012 as both are designed by the same company in master planning; AECOM. Not much detail is given yet on the master plan which will be sorted out in the next few months before construction begins on the main site for the games where many venues and facilities are concentrated. There is still 1805 days till Rio 2016 ( the next edition would be London 2012 which is only 335 days to go) and the city (Rio de Janeiro) is already making good progress for it. Image below from: http://www.graphito.net/design/rio-2016/
