Rio de Janeiro 2009 : City Tower Competition

For this competition the project under consideration will be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft landing at the city’s airport, and will comprise a vertical structure which will seek to become a symbol for those arriving in Rio, creating an image potent enough to enable Rio to triumph in its bid to host the summer Olympics in 2016. The challenge, therefore, consists of designing a Lighthouse-Tower which will become a symbol welcoming all those who visit Rio de Janeiro, whether they arrive by air or sea.

This vertical element of at least 100 meters in height should be sufficiently versatile to house multiple sporting and cultural events, as well as providing a space for recreation and serving as a huge lighthouse composed of multiple LED units (ultraviolet light-emitting diodes) located all the way from the highest part of the edifice, along its entire architectural structure, to the base. The Lighthouse-Tower should be an easily distinguishable object capable of imposing its presence within the context of the urban and natural surroundings of the city. Nevertheless, the competitors may choose to produce totally experimental designs which express opposite extremes, ranging from the subordination of the urban profile and surrounding landscape to the option of creating a new model which will serve to redefine the idea of a “monument” in the context of the debate regarding the paradisiacal and the cosmopolitan.

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