September 21, 2015
RUA
Urban inequality is a major issue in Rio de Janeiro. This is reflected in how certain parts of the city, like the favelas, are represented, and also in how infrastructure and services are distributed in the territory. We are interested in culture as an agent of transformation, and we try to engage with projects—design, curatorial, or […]
Urban inequality is a major issue in Rio de Janeiro. This is reflected in how certain parts of the city, like the favelas, are represented, and also in how infrastructure and services are distributed in the territory.
We are interested in culture as an agent of transformation, and we try to engage with projects—design, curatorial, or entrepreneurial—to share this idea. We are designing both the Olympic Golf Clubhouse and art spaces inside the most populated favelas of the city. We believe we can metaphorically and physically bridge some of the gaps in our country.
Brazilian contemporary architecture tends to revisit our rich modern heritage and reprocess it. There are many more examples in our traditional and popular culture that can inform design. From shading solutions or the retail devices people invent for the streets of the southwest, to hammocks or craftsmanship from the North Amazon, innovative architecture in our country has a lot to draw upon. In our climate, we can explore the potential of in-between conditions: inside and outside, artificial and natural, domestic and urban, formal and informal. Places like Brazil should look to their own particularities, not replicate Europe- or North America–centric architecture.
RUA Arquitetos
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Founded: 2008
Size: 6-8 people
Founder: Pedro Évora and Pedro Rivera
Olympic Golf Clubhouse, Rio de Janeiro, 2016
Gallery Babilò‚nia, Rio de Janeiro, 2014
"The Carioca Way of City Making," Varanda Products panorama, part of the Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities exhibition at MoMA, 2014
