AECOM’s Project Lines | Rio 2016 Olympic
The Rio 2016 Olympic Park masterplan design was assigned to AECOM, the English firm already responsible for London’s 2012 Olympic Park Master Plan. The project created by architect Bill Hanway and designer Daniel Gusmão was chosen for its intelligent transportation arrangements, unique design concept, and commitment to preserving the environmental context. The triangular-shaped site rises at the side of the large Jacarepagua lagoon and holds temporary and permanent structures within it. Bill Hanway, the project leader of the AECOM Rio team, says, “We envision a new relationship between built form and environment based on sports, recreation, sustainability, and ecology,” emphasising that the main goal was not only to create a global stage for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics but to create a new district that would provide homes, jobs and new activities within the city. Within the project, what was fundamental was not to fragment the urban space, as architecture does not separate but unites, connects, and unifies all the realities in the territory. The Olympic Games were staged in different areas of Rio: Deodoro, Copacabana, and Maracanã, but the Olympic park at Barra da Tijuca was the leading event site. The park includes the Cidade dos Esportes sports complex, which was built for the 2007 Pan American Games, and houses nine sports facilities, eight of which are permanent. When the games are over, ones will become a sports school, while the other seven facilities will form the Centro Olímpico de Treinamento.
The Sustainable Design
In the official declaration, the winner said his main goal was to find the proper balance between organising a global sporting event and building lasting urban infrastructure while preserving the environmental beauty of the site. What was most relevant within the design was considering the possibility of adapting the massive structures built for purposes beyond the period of the Olympic Games. Two scenarios were considered: the Olympic Games mode provided the best conditions for game performance, and the Legacy mode aimed to ensure that facilities used in the post-Games period could be redeveloped. The masterplan ‘sets out to respect and reinforce the balance between native ecology, the city, and its people while delivering a platform for sporting excellence.1 The international contest aims to reach a wide range of professionals and search for creative ways to combine high quality, practical functionality, and sustainability. “It’s based around not leaving white elephants,” said Bill Hanway of AECOM. “We’re at a stage in the Olympics where social and financial responsibility is much more important than they used to be.” The construction method used consisted of prefabricated and modular parts: a strategy that allows simple and inexpensive reconversion of the structure.
The Key Role of Landscape Architecture
All buildings within the park are placed at a minimal distance from each other to create a single usable and walkable space for visitors. The overall image created is that of an immense urban area seamlessly integrated with its host site. The height of each building is shallow, allowing a perfect overall view of the land and mountains surrounding the park. Accommodations for athletes are used as a model for a future zoning plan for the area, addressing both the needs of the Olympic Games and longer-term needs. The main objective is to preserve the site’s incredible landscape and environmental heritage, as it is considered a key element in the valorisation of the project. The investment made for the Olympics was, in fact, part of a much larger design framework necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the entire project. For these large-scale sporting events, as well as any other type of large-scale event, to be sustainable for the host environment, it needs to be the fundamental focus of the entire design and not merely a second side element. In this way, architecture can fully play its fundamental role as an element of social cohesion and connection between people and the environment.
A multi-Dimensional Project | Rio 2016 Olympic
Significant and vital events such as the Olympics are key moments in the architectural design of the structures and the urban reconstruction and redevelopment of the area. Considering the key role architecture plays in the development of sociality and the definition of urban spaces, it’s easy to understand how such a significant event and design move on the same plane. The whole country celebrated when Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the first city in South America to host the Olympics. The occasion was experienced, in fact, by the entire population, as a chance for social development and strong economic growth. Since, over time, these events have increased in size, and the number of participants, among athletes and visitors, it has become necessary to plan an ever-increasing architectural plan with more and more facilities and services. The risk in drawing up these increasingly large and essential architectural plans (just think of current projects by such archi-stars as Zaha Hadid, Richard Meier, Santiago Calatrava, and Norman Foster), is to move away from the real needs of the population and those who are to enjoy that particular facility. And the connection with the local area and the individual inhabitant was the critical element in AECOM’s winning the Rio Olympic Park project.
References:
1 Landscape Institute (2016). AECOM takes on a bigger role at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. [Online]. Available at:https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/news/aecom-takes-on-a-bigger-role-at-the-rio-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-games/ [Accessed date: 12/04/2022]
2 Lubell, Sam (2016). After the Games, Rio’s Stadiums Won’t Rot- They’ll Transform. [Online]. Available at:https://www.wired.com/2016/08/games-rios-stadiums-wont-rot-theyll-transform/ [Accessed date: 12/04/2022]
