Multipurpose space - Cidade das Artes

By Francesco Pagliari - 25 February 2014

Cidade das Artes is Rio de Janiero’s artistic hub, a venue for symphonic and chamber music, opera, dance and cinema, and home to Brazil’s Symphony Orchestra. A landmark on the plain lying between the ocean and the backdrop mountain range, it stands as an urban monument, a city within a city. The plasticity of its many articulated environments is in striking contrast to the solidity and force imparted by the huge swathes of pre-compressed unrendered reinforced concrete reminiscent of modern Brazilian architecture. Cidade das Artes stands above the ground, accessible by sculptural ramps. Two huge horizontal slabs proudly cantilever out across the landscape, enclosing the architecture. The trapeze-shaped floor plate standing 10 m off the ground is the complex’s ground level. A huge raised urban terrace, it is an aerial plaza on which the architectural elements stand. In true “belvedere” style, it offers different viewpoints across the city.
Perpendicular and gently slanted supporting pillars pierce the terrace slab to embed themselves in the roof. Enormous reinforced concrete sails form the main anchorage point to the ground. They extend up through the floor plate to form the acoustically-dampened concert hall walls.
The slightly tilted roof has a huge central oculus surrounded by triangular and rectangular openings that take light to the centre’s connecting spaces, the intricate vertical circulation routes at the various levels, and light up the unrendered concrete walls. At ground level, the landscaped grounds include hillocks, trees, lawns and a round reflective pool that meanders under the raised plaza.
The open shape created by the plaza and roof plates contain five separate functional facilities: a 1.800 seat concert hall, and 1.300 seat opera house whose fly tower can contain two full sets of props; a curved wall unit containing a chamber music concert hall and rehearsal room; a cinema complex; offices; and...