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Rio de Janeiro Buildings : Architecture

Rio Buildings, Brazil, South America Built Environment Updates

post updated 12 December 2023

Rio de Janeiro Buildings

We’ve selected what we feel are the key examples of Rio de Janeiro Architecture. We aim to include projects that are either of top quality or interesting, or ideally both.

We cover completed buildings, new building designs, architectural exhibitions and architecture competitions across Rio de Janeiro and Brasil. The focus is on contemporary buildings but information on traditional buildings is also welcome.

We have 1 page of Rio de Janeiro Architecture selections with links to many individual project pages.

Rio de Janeiro Building News

Rio Architecture News – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

Rio de Janeiro Architecture Walking Tours, Brasil, by e-architect

Rio is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo) with around 6.3 million people.
Celebrated Brazilian buildings include Cidade da Musica Roberto Marinho, the Ministry of Education building by Oscar Niemeyer with Le Corbusier, the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum and the Oscar Niemeyer Popular Theatre.

Famous architects with buildings in Rio de Janeiro include Atelier Christian de Portzamparc and Richard Meier & Partners. Other key architects with work in the city include BCMF Arquitetos, AECOM and Andrade Morettin Arquitetos.

26 October 2023
Bar do Mussum
Architect: Superlimão

photo : Maíra Acayaba
Bar do Mussum, Rio de Janeiro

13 September 2023
>Casa TMC, Angra dos Reis
Architect: Magarão + Lindenberg Arq

photo : Raiana Medina Fotogratia
Casa TMC Brazil

27 June 2023
Sea of Mirrors, AquaRio, Praça Muhammad Ali, Gamboa
Design: Cité Arquitetura

photo : Dani Leite
Sea of Mirrors, AquaRio
The intervention “Sea of Mirrors” is the result of a partnership between Cebrace, Grupo Cataratas and Instituto do Vidro, designed by Cité Arquitetura. Occupying AquaRio, a reference point in the harbor region of Rio de Janeiro, the installation proposes a journey of discoveries for its visitors using image and sound technologies associated with the most diverse current glass and mirror solutions.

23 Mar 2022
Partage Shopping In Brasília, Barra da Tijuca
Design: Superlimão

photo : Maira Acayaba
Westwing Store, Barra da Tijuca Rio de Janeiro
Superlimão, from Brazil, signs off on architectural project of Westwing’s new physical stores in this major Brazilian city, located in Ipanema and Barra da Tijuca. The concept behind the renovation process focused on conveying the idea of omnichannel through architecture, making the physical journey through the store as close as possible to the customer experience on the brand’s website.

26 Aug 2021
Igara Building, Alto Leblon
Design: Cité Arquitetura

picture : Studio VIR
Igara Building, Alto Leblon, Rio de Janeiro
Located on the corner of Igarapava and Sambaíba streets, in the lower part of Alto Leblon, in Rio de Janeiro, the Edifício Igara is an architectural project signed by Cité Arquitetura, led by the architects and partners Fernando Costa and Celso Rayol, with landscaping deisgn signed by Embyá and interiors project by Manga Rosa Arquitetura.

17 Aug 2021
Contemporâneo Gávea residential project, Gávea
Design: Cité Arquitetura

photo : Wagner Ziegelmeyer
Gávea Contemporâneo Rio de Janeiro
The premise in this Brazilian residential property is to promote the encounter between residents and the city, meeting the contemporary desire of being close to everything, and at the same time having the coziness of home.

13 Mar 2020
SC Office
Design: Reinach Mendonça Arquitetos Associados (RMAA)

photo : Leonardo Finottis
SC Office Rio de Janeiro, Edifício Argentina
The Edifício Argentina, located in Botafogo Beach, is a significant business center of the city. It was built in 1978 during the Brutalism architecture of the 1970s and has a central line distribution and two elevator blocks organization.

25 Mar 2020
UIA World Congress of Architects is postponed
27th World Congress of Architects – UIA2020RIO

6 Dec 2019
CMA House, Angra dos Reis
Design: Jacobsen Arquitetura

photo : Fernando Guerra
CMA House in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro
With its big eaves, mashrabiya panels and double story high glass openings, this house was commissioned by a family that lives in this Brazilian city, and spend the majority of their free time in archipelago of Angra dos Reis with good amount of friends.

14 Sep 2016
Riba in Leblon, Leblon
Design: SuperLimão Studio + André Piva Arquitetura with Laika Design

photograph : Anna Fischer
Riba Bar in Leblon
The Riba bar opens its doors with the proposal to bring together the pleasure of “botecar” with a handmade menu, combined with a relaxed atmosphere in one of the most charming corners of Leblon, in the south of the city.

2 Aug 2016
Leblon Office Building
Design: Richard Meier & Partners

image from architects firm
Leblon Office Building Rio de Janeiro
Richard Meier & Partners is proud to announce their first project in South America. The new Leblon Offices will be a sustainable and state-of-the-art building.
The new office building located in the Leblon neighborhood, will be the iconic new international headquarters for VINCI Partners in Brazil. The design scheme consists primarily of open office spaces and a series of terraces which open up and create a direct connection with the urban artery of Av. Bartolomeu Mitre.

Museum of Tomorrow
Design: Santiago Calatrava architect

image from architect studio
Museum of Tomorrow Rio de Janeiro
Calatrava was commissioned to design the sustainably-focused museum, as part of the ambitious “Marvelous Port” urban design project, which will transform the city’s historical waterfront into a thriving cultural and residential community. Located on the prominent Pier Maua, the museum is an integral part of the urban revitalization commitment that the city made to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Rio 2016 Buildings

Rio 2016 Olympic Buildings

Rio Olympic Park Masterplan Competition
Design: AECOM

image from Brazilian Institute of Architects
Rio Olympic Park Masterplan
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 the Brazilian city. The site – roughly triangular in shape – is set against a backdrop of mountains and overlooks the lagoon of Jacarepagua.

Rio Olympic Port Competition
Design: João Pedro Backheuser / Ignasi Riera – winners

image from architects practice
Rio Architecture Competition : Olympic Port
The winning project of the Olympic Port, which aims at the revitalization and redevelopment of 850 square meters of the port city of Rio de Janeiro, was announced at the headquarters of the Brazilian Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB-RJ) in Rio.
The project includes the construction of facilities such as the media and referees villages, a five-star hotel, a convention center and business center that will be used during the 2016 Olympics Games and will be a legacy for the city. More over, this urban intervention leverages the entire project of Marvelous Port Recovery Center of Rio de Janeiro.

Major Architectural Designs in the City

Key Rio Buildings by Oscar Niemeyer

Teatro Popular de Niteroi / Oscar Niemeyer Popular Theatre, Niterói
Date built: 2007
Architect: Oscar Niemeyer

photo © Marcela Grassi
Teatro Popular de Niteroi
The People’s Theatre building is located beyond the Bus Terminal, on the left as you exit the Ferry Station.

Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói – MAC, Niterói
1996

photo © Marcela Grassi
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói

Rio de Janeiro Architecture

Major São Paulo Architecture Projects, alphabetical:

Center for Information Comperj in Itaboraí
Architects: Andrade Morettin Arquitetos

image from architects office
Brazil Architecture Competition
The headquarters of the Center for Information of Comperj in Itaboraí play a key role in the future petrochemical complex that Petrobras will implement in the region. The CI will be the gateway to the site.

Cidade da Musica Roberto Marinho
Design: Atelier Christian de Portzamparc

picture from CdP
Cidade da Musica Rio : Brazilian concert hall
The Cidade da Musica is seen as a large house on stilts, a great veranda above a garden with ponds, shade and trees. Also, it is an homage to an archetype of Brazilian architecture.

Deodoro Shooting Center
Design: BCMF Arquitetos

image from architects practice
Rio Olympic Park Deodoro Cluster

Image and Audio Museum Building – Competition Design
Design: Diller Scofidio + Renfro

picture from the Client
Museu da Imagen e de Som
+
Museum of Image and Sound Rio : Isay Weinfeld – design
The building, made up of 5 blocks housing the museum functions and grouped according to usage affinities and public traffic, rises from a ground floor crossed by an internal passageway connecting Atlântica Avenue to Aires Saldanha Street. Each volume features a different external cover that fulfills the lighting-control needs of the respective internal functions.

Rio 2016 Olympic Park Buildings
Design: BCMF Arquitetos

image from architects studio
Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park Buildings
BCMF was the lead designer of 17 new venues and facilities and of the complementation of 3 existing ones, located mainly in the clusters of Barra da Tijuca and Deodoro (where the architects had already designed the “Deodoro Sports Complex” for the Rio 2007 Pan-American Games).

Rio Olympic Park Barra Cluster
Design: BCMF Arquitetos

image from architect firm
Rio Olympic Park Barra Cluster : 2016 Building + Landscape Designs
The idea of the Masterplan is to approach the entire site as a “Campus” or “Park” where the various facilities would be connected and integrated through an intensive landscaping of the area in all levels. The architectural concept is focused on addressing three key issues.

Rio de Janeiro Tower
Architects: Mikou Design Studio

image from architect practice
Rio Tower
This tower is for us the poetic embodiment of its natural and urban surroundings. It summarizes the tropical experience associated with lush South American vegetation, the deep skies of Brazil and the sensorial urban landscape.

Rocinha – Favelas
Design: Lee Miles of Desitecture

image : Lee Miles
Rocinha – Favelas

Solar City Tower Project for Rio 2016
Architects : RAFAA architecture & design, Zürich, Switzerland

image from architects firm
Rio Solar City Tower