Brazilian Navy selects architectural design for new Maritime Museum

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Museu Marítimo do Brasil will be built in the Espaço Cultural da Marinha, located in the Rio de Janeiro port area, near Praça XV. It will promote knowledge about the maritime history intricately linked to the country’s development. The structure will also feature an auditorium, a restaurant, and a cafeteria.

The details of the competition to select the project were announced in June. The process was conducted in partnership with the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB). The winner was announced online, through a live stream at 5 PM, in which the minutes with the results were read.

“The project presents a simple yet powerful formal composition. Along the pier, the building that houses exhibits and collections is horizontal, enabling a view of the bay. On land, the building for access and educational activities is positioned with respect for the proportions of the surrounding buildings,” the document reads. The meeting minutes also record the jury’s recommendations for the project’s improvement phase.

When announcing the competition, the Navy said that the museum would have as its conceptual purposes the respect for the sea and the rivers as cultural, symbolic and mythical instances, in the convergence of a Brazilian maritime society that bears several origins. It also said that the innovation of submitted proposals would be taken into account. The selected project should reassert the excellence of contemporary Brazilian architecture.

In all, 110 works were submitted. Five jurors were in charge of their assessment. “This jury is a very comprehensive body, in line with the statutes of design competitions in Brazil. We have nominations from the IAB-RJ itself, which are taken from a jury body elected every three years, and from the competition’s promoter, in this case the Navy, which appoints two names,” explained Igor de Vetyemy, president of the IAB-RJ.

The competition was organized with resources from the Federal Law for Cultural Incentive. The winning team will be awarded R$50,000 (US$9,500). Two other works were awarded, a proposal submitted by a team from Brasília, under the coordination of architect Nonato Veloso, came in second place. It will be awarded R$30,000. In third place, awarded R$20,000, was another project submitted by a team from São Paulo, led by Álvaro Puntoni.

Three more projects received honorable mention. They were submitted by teams from the cities of Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Vitória da Conquista (BA). A book compiling all six proposals will be produced by the Navy.

According to Vetyemy, the Museu Marítimo do Brasil is being designed under new ethical parameters, which include popular participation and the creation of quality public spaces.

“It is good to see that the most democratic instrument to build our cities, which is the public project competition, accomplishes its purpose so well. One hundred and ten large teams were engaged, discussing the way architecture has been done to date, thinking about how to evolve, thinking about how to propose such important issues such as, in this specific case, reconnecting the city with the sea,” he said.

Revitalization

The Navy proposes that the museum should offer an experience that highlights relevant aspects of the history and development of the national maritime vocation. The region where it will be built was home to the Customs Docks in the 19th century. With fourteen warehouses, it was capable of handling numerous vessels, although it was not deep enough for large ships to dock.

The Museu Marítimo do Brasil will be yet another cultural landmark built as part of the Rio de Janeiro port revitalization process. It will be close to the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR – Rio Art Museum), which opened in 2013, and the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow), which opened its doors in 2015.

Its location also enables a dialogue with other venues of the existing cultural complex in the downtown region of the state capital, such as the Museu Histórico Nacional (National History Museum), the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil (CCBB), and the Casa França-Brasil (France-Brazil House).

“The winning project needed to not only meet the needs outlined, but to harmoniously integrate the site where it will be built,” said Vice Admiral José Carlos Mathias, head of the Navy’s historical heritage and documentation directorate.

The port area revitalization process is a historical demand from some of Rio’s society sectors, but it was boosted during the city’s preparation process to host the 2016 Olympic Games. One of the main milestones was the tearing down of the Perimetral, a 4-lane automobile viaduct skirting the city center, built in stages between the 1950s and 1970s, significantly altering the urban landscape.

The demolition contributed to the renovation of urban spaces. However, the revitalization project planned to develop residential areas in the port zone, in order to prevent it from being abandoned again, but timid advances in this direction have been met with criticism. About two months ago, during the launch of a new housing development in the region, Mayor Eduardo Paes said that the challenges are due to economic issues.

“The Brazilian economy stopped, Rio’s economy stopped. We had no new housing developments. Now the economy seems to have picked up again, Rio is growing again, God willing, and we are launching new housing developments. Now it is a market solution. The infrastructure has already been completed. The LRT [Light Rail Vehicles] are at our doorstep, the streets have been urbanized, the Olympic Boulevard, 9 km of tunnel. The private sector now needs to launch projects,” he said.

Source: Agência Brasil