1st place national architecture competition
"Gregarious scale, as envisioned in the Original Plan for 500,000 inhabitants and described in 'Brasília Revisited,' is reinterpreted in this project – in its architectural, urban, and landscape elements, for the gregarious scale of the metropolis and its more than three million inhabitants. In this sense, it proposes a lively, open, inclusive, and integrated space that promotes collective appropriation, as an extension of the city and not as an isolated or closed fragment in relation to the urban context.
Flexibility and Unity
Balancing between the flexibility of occupancy and the unity of the ensemble. This is the objective that defines the implementation strategy of the project. While allowing construction in stages, various occupancy possibilities, and adaptability over time, it seeks to avoid excessive fragmentation and discontinuity. It's about embracing diversity and unpredictability without losing sight of a cohesive whole. The proposal aims for coherence with the spirit of the Revised Pilot Plan according to contemporary demands for accessibility, sustainability, and flexibility of the built space. To achieve this, ordering elements (architecture, urban planning, and landscaping) are used to integrate, in scale and language, the various functions of the complex.
Dynamic and Flexible System
The Boulevard, as the core of convergence for the ensemble, is proposed as a flexible, active, dynamic, and accessible system, articulated by streets, squares, and organizing axes that connect with the entire complex at various levels and with the surroundings through mobility squares. The ensemble is permeated by landscaped elements traced along the natural path of water and configured according to the scale of people.
Active Streets: the reference of the 'commercials'
The Boulevard incorporates, in scale and occupation strategy, the main qualities of contemporary active streets, which in Brasília find parallels in some characteristics of the 'commercials' of the Pilot Plan. From the commercials in Asa Norte, the references are the diversity of use; occupation on three levels; shaded galleries on the ground floor; uses facing all facades, and the possibility of implementation in stages. The commercials in Asa Sul are present in the continuity of the sidewalk; the unity of the ensemble and its horizontality; the adjustment to the topography; integration with the surroundings, and accessibility. The main difference lies in street appropriation: while the commercials of the Pilot Plan are cut by the intense flow of vehicles, the commercials of the Boulevard will be pedestrian walkways, squares, and sidewalks dedicated to pedestrians.
Between the Potential and the Everyday
One of the main challenges of the project is to balance the scale of spaces for two extreme situations: on the one hand, the complex needs to accommodate the thousands of people who attend large sports and cultural events; on the other hand, it needs to ensure comfortable individual or small group use for those who will frequent Arena BSB in everyday activities. The solution to balance the scales is the use of an articulation and ordering axis (here referred to as the 'platform') that, in addition to hosting various activities, functions as an inductive and welcoming element, integrating the various levels and uses between the eastern and western ends of the complex while allowing a balanced transition between major events (southern portion) and the daily life of the Boulevard (northern portion).
Implementation Stages
The typologies proposed for the Boulevard and other facilities allow for phased implementation (initially 60,000 sqm and ultimately 90,000 sqm, as suggested in the Terms of Reference), without functional, landscape, or operational drawbacks. The goal is to preserve the unity and balance of the ensemble while ensuring the desired flexibility. In this sense, the Boulevard consists of four integrated occupancy strips in a single building, developed on three levels and expanding as needed. This complex is superimposed on the base, which houses the garage and other technical and logistical functions (built in the first stage), connecting to other complex facilities at the underground level. The strips of the Boulevard are interspersed with voids that define streets, squares, and cultural alleys located on two levels (lower ground and upper ground) to create atmospheres suitable for the scale of people. The spaces and facilities not built in the first stage will be occupied by squares and recreational and leisure areas at various levels, integrated into the rest of the ensemble, until new constructions and uses are eventually added. In addition to the division into the stages proposed in the Terms of Reference (60/90), other configurations are possible, depending on investment opportunities, market dynamics, public interest, and social demands, without altering the general concept of the project.
Program
Another significant challenge of the project is to integrate and connect uses that tend to be distributed in a fragmented and dispersed manner due to the size of the intervention area, the more than twenty meters of elevation difference, and the complexity of the program requirements. The element used to connect the entire ensemble is the 'platform,' a linear building that leads people longitudinally between the eastern and western ends of the complex and, transversally, provides sheltered access to the Boulevard, other facilities, and future projections. In addition to serving as a transition and connection element, the 'platform' also serves as urban infrastructure and an element of architectural and landscape composition. It will be used as an uncovered public walkway, a sheltered walkway, and a welcoming space for commercial and leisure activities. Therefore, while presenting itself as an extension of the Boulevard, the 'platform' is the element that provides unity and integration to the entire program.
"On one side, the stadium (...); on the other (...) the Zoo [currently occupied by the City Park], with these two immense green areas symmetrically arranged with respect to the monumental axis, as the lungs of the new city (fig. 4)."
(Lucio Costa, Pilot Plan memorial, 1957)
"the importance of landscape volumetrics in the interaction of the city's four urban scales"
(Lucio Costa, Brasília Revisited, 1987)
Cerrado: Biodiversity and Resilience
The Cerrado covers nearly 25% of Brazil's territory, is considered the world's richest savanna in biodiversity, and, not to mention, it is the biome responsible for supplying the springs that form the country's three main river basins. It is necessary to integrate the Cerrado into the national imagination, and the federal capital can play a central role in this mission. The Arena BSB complex is located in a strategic part of the city, serving as a convergence and transition point between gregarious, monumental, bucolic, and residential scales.
Savanna Landscapes
Brazil has an almost exclusively forested self-image. However, 40% of its natural landscapes are not forests but savannas and fields, open formations dominated by grasses, herbs, and flowering shrubs, with or without scattered trees.
When it comes to native flora, landscaping and environmental compensation projects in the Cerrado focus exclusively on trees, neglecting ground cover plants and smaller species that characterize its natural landscapes. Valuing the Cerrado, in its aesthetics and ecology, necessarily involves highlighting such species characteristic of the savanna landscape.
In this proposal, native trees will enhance and shade the plot's perimeter, pedestrian circulation axes, and some of the seating areas. The areas between these spaces and the buildings will be covered in sections by vegetal carpets inspired by the Cerrado's grasses, herbs, and native shrubs.
The Sky as a Landscape Element
The aesthetic and ecological references of the Cerrado's natural landscape go beyond its vegetal component and highlight another expressive and unique element of Central Brazil: the sky. By not covering all green areas with trees, going beyond merely leaving them grassy, the aim is to value what Lucio Costa defined as "Brasília's sea," as well as the emptiness that qualifies and articulates the built and non-built environment, making the city exceptional.
Source of Springs
The Cerrado is known as "Brazil's water tank" because it is where water infiltrates, feeding the springs of the country's main rivers and watercourses. This is due to the native plants that, adapted to drought and fire, have evolved not to lose much water through evapotranspiration and have developed deep roots that channel rainwater into the ground. The open areas of the Arena BSB, treated with these plants, will provide the same ecosystem service. They will be gardens with high drainage capacity during the rainy season and great resilience during the dry season. The field and savanna areas, built on slightly concave surfaces, will allow water to infiltrate the soil much better than lawns. Thus, it is expected to relieve urban drainage networks, contribute to groundwater recharge, and highlight one of the Cerrado's most important qualities. The use of native plants brings additional advantages. Because they are adapted to climatic conditions, they can dispense with or at least significantly reduce investments in irrigation. Therefore, their natural seasonality is celebrated, expressed in chromatic variation throughout the year: during the rainy season, shades of green prevail, and during the dry season, golden and ocher tones dominate.
Ecological Trampoline
The profusion of native grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees provides habitat and food for urban fauna, especially birds and insects, which will find another safe landing spot at the Arena BSB. The project will contribute to the connection between the Burle Marx Ecological Park, adjacent to Asa Norte, and the Sarah Kubitschek Park (City Park), adjacent to Asa Sul. Thus, on a metropolitan scale, it will play the role of an ecological trampoline (part of a sequence of disconnected small habitats used by fauna to find shelter, food, or rest) and will increase the ecological permeability of the Pilot Plan, improving the quality of urban spaces that connect parks and conservation units. Planting native trees is already part of the Brasília routine. Planting Cerrado grasses, herbs, and shrubs is also a viable option today from technical and financial perspectives. Ecological restoration projects have demonstrated the effectiveness of seeding extensive areas with these plants, and there is already a wide variety of seeds available in the market. While the technique is viable, it is still innovative. By presenting native grasslands as a landscape solution for some of its open areas, Arena BSB will bring a unique and pioneering mark to the development and to the capital, expressing its commitment to biodiversity conservation, water appreciation, and the updating of Brazilian cultural values.
Path of Waters
To integrate landscape design and the implementation of the built complex, the main strategy was to follow the path of water, which also defines the natural path of people. The general layout of landscaping and urban design sought to avoid the creation of undesirable barriers, both for people's routes and for natural drainage. The savanna areas implemented in various parts of the complex, slightly concave and complemented with large native vegetation, form natural retention basins and are strategically located within the complex to reduce the speed of water and contribute to its infiltration into the soil. This prevents water from overflowing into the city. Both in rainy periods (natural runoff) and in dry periods (artificial streams and jets), the coincidence between the paths of water and people allows for welcoming atmospheres and playful experiences, where landscaping and architecture complement each other.
Construction, Maintenance, and Logistics
In order to allow flexibility, low cost, construction agility, and ease of expansion and maintenance, the Boulevard results from the modulated combination of two structural systems: (1) reinforced concrete base (garage and services); (2) steel superstructure (blocks housing various uses, to be built in stages). The structural grid is defined by optimizing parking spaces and vehicle circulation, with main spans of 15m x 12m. Thus, after the construction of the base, the expansion of the complex can occur through dry construction, with agility and minimal logistical and environmental impact, using industrialized and modular components, without compromising other activities. The garage will also serve as the base for the entire complex's logistics, with dedicated lanes and docks for supply and service flow, without interfering with public use. Beneath the garage, technical galleries are proposed, allowing for the routing of installations and serving as a complement to the complex's logistics (supply, maintenance, waste collection, and service flows) to avoid conflicts with public use of the Boulevard and other facilities.
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
The implementation, typology, and construction elements adopted in the Boulevard project qualify the building to achieve Level A in the Brazilian Labeling Program, both regarding the envelope and lighting and air conditioning systems. These design strategies, combined with other solutions to reduce consumption and optimize natural resource use, will enable the project to obtain the PROCEL Energy Efficiency Label (Level A in all criteria), among other sustainability certifications. Regarding the envelope, which is more directly related to this project stage: all office spaces (upper floor) will have their openings protected, either by pergolas (internal gardens) or by balconies and perforated sliding panels (façades), which can be adjusted according to solar incidence (depending on the season and time of day). The spaces distributed on the lower and upper ground floors (shops, restaurants, and leisure and entertainment spaces) receive controlled natural lighting while being protected from direct sunlight by recesses in relation to the upper floors. The roof slabs are treated as 'garden ceilings' to increase the building's thermal inertia and reduce heat reflection onto the surroundings. Solar panels will be installed on the roof, integrated into the landscaping, for water heating and photovoltaic energy generation. The infrastructure designed for the building also allows for the collection, filtering, and reuse of rainwater, both for landscaping treatment and sanitary uses."
