Rio Olympic Park Masterplan, Brazil Building, Design Competition, Image

Rio Olympic Park Master Plan, Brazil : 2016 Architecture

Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park Development design by AECOM

page updated 30 Jul 2016 ; 13 Oct 2011

Rio 2016 Olympic Park Masterplan

AECOM’s winning vision for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games will become a reality

Contract award coincides with creation of AECOM’s sports group

13th October 2011: Taking its inspiration from the dramatic natural setting and the energy and ambitions of Rio, AECOM’s winning masterplan design for the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games will start to become a reality as works begins to develop the plans by teams in London and Rio de Janeiro.

AECOM and Rio’s vision for the future is not just to create a global stage for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016, but also, in the longer term, to create a new legacy district with new homes, jobs and places for leisure activities. It is also to become a global centre of sporting excellence, with a new Atlantica Forest park set in a thriving and beautiful waterfront.

Won in an international competition with submissions from 59 teams in 18 countries, the AECOM bid for this prestigious project is focused on an approximately 120 hectares of land in the district of Barra de Tijuca, southwest of Rio. The site – roughly triangular in shape – is set against a backdrop of mountains and overlooks the lagoon of Jacarepagua. Coordinated by Rio’s Municipal Olympic Company, in partnership with the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB), this was Brazil’s first international architecture competition.

“Working with our local Rio partner, DG Architecture, the designs grew from the idea of a new urban ecology deeply rooted in the culture of Brazil,” says Bill Hanway, project leader of AECOM’s Rio bid team. “One of our strengths is the ability to draw from our broad expertise in masterplanning, sports architecture and landscape architecture to deliver a unique and contextual solution for the specific challenges in Rio.”

In addition to Daniel Gusmao of DG Architecture, the team included Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Pujol Barcelona Architects, IMG Sports and Expedition. Hanway continues, “We imagine a new relationship between built form and environment based on sport, recreation, sustainability and ecology.”

Said Mayor Eduardo Paes at the announcement ceremony in August, “We are doing very well in our preparation for the Olympic Games, as this contest proves. Our concern is with the legacy that we will leave for the city. The Olympic Park will be a central facility of the Games, focusing on different sports. One of the aims of this competition was to think about how to occupy this area so that it will be possible to attract private funds for works that would be paid with public funds.”

“Congratulations to AECOM UK for winning the Olympic masterplan competition for Rio 2016,” said Nick Clegg, British Deputy Prime Minister. “This is great news for AECOM UK and is another example of the fast-expanding business links between the UK and Brazil. “In June AECOM UK was part of my business delegation to Brazil where I launched a series of joint ventures between our two countries. As a result I look forward to hearing about more UK companies using their expertise to win business linked to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

“A key element of the win for AECOM was our ability to use the same project team that worked on London’s Olympic park and its legacy plans. Added to this was the venue design experience of our new global Sports group,” says Jason Prior, chief executive of the Planning Design + Development group. “Our proposal for Rio is about understanding the city’s particular needs and using the energy and excitement of the Games as a catalyst for long-term and widespread benefits and change.”

The Rio win coincides with the launch of AECOM’s enhanced capability in sporting projects with its worldwide sports group – drawing together the expertise of the company’s international teams of economists, planners, architects, landscape architects, engineers, urban designers, cost consultants, project and programme managers, management consultants, ecologists, hydrologists, archaeologists, transportation planners, and many more besides.

The sports group has offices around the world. Its portfolio of projects includes more than 40 years of experience working on Olympic Games and World Cup projects plus a wide range of large and small stadiums, arenas and multi-sports centres.

To meet the requirements of different projects, bespoke teams are created — sometimes comprising a full range of disciplines and sometimes with individual specialists as appropriate. Says Peter Flint, AECOM’s global head of the sports group, “Anyone planning a sporting project or event, mega, large or small, can call on our teams and our unique collaborative way of working from the start to finish of a project — from consultants leading the bidding process or economists looking at the feasibility of ideas, through to planners, sports venue architects, urban designers, landscape architects, structural and building services engineers, transportation, water and energy consultants, cost consultants, project and programme managers.”

22 Aug 2011

Rio 2016 Olympic Park Master Plan

English Firm Wins International Competition For The Master Plan Of Rio 2016 Olympic Park, Coordinated By The Brazilian Institute Of Architects / Rio De Janeiro (IAB/RJ)

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.

image from Brazilian Institute of Architects

The ceremony at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, located within the sports complex that will be the heart of the 2016 Olympic Games, was attended by authorities including the Sports Minister Orlando Silva, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes and President of the IAB-RJ, Sergio Magalhães.

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.

images from Brazilian Institute of Architects

“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.

“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.

All 58 projects classified, national and foreign, will be on display at the headquarters of the IAB/RJ (Rua do Pinheiro, 10), until September 9.

Rio Olympic Park Master Plan images / information from Brazilian Institute of Architects

AECOM

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Architecture in Brazil

Brazilian Architecture Design – chronological list

Brazilian Building News

Rio de Janeiro Architecture Walking Tours

São Paulo Architecture Tours

Brasilia Architectural Walking Tours

Brazilian Architecture
Brazilian School
photo : Nelson Kon

Rio 2016 Olympic Park Competition

image from architect office
Rio 2016 Olympic Park Competition
The Brazilian Institute of Architects of Brazil / Rio de Janeiro (IAB/RJ) has signed a partnership with the City Government of Rio de Janeiro for the International Public Competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park’s General Urban Plan.