Architecture in Curitiba & Rio de Janeiro

Curitiba

Museu Oscar Niemeyer 'The Eye', Oscar Niemeyer, 2002

Universidade Livre do Meio Ambiente, Domingos Bongestabs, 1992

Eucalyptus trunks & recycled materials

Rio de Janeiro:

Copacabana Beach

Edificio Gustavo Capanema, Curbusier + Lucio Costa + others, 1947

Petrobras Building

Museu de Arte Moderna, Affonso Reidy, 1955

Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Oscar Niemeyer

Enjoy the photos, more to come later. Apart from the architecture Rio has the wildest street nightlife and samba clubs i've ever seen. However, I have no proof with photos.

Curitiba

The Curitiba transit system is organized into several different types of above ground buses. The city (of almost 2 million) has no underground system. Six double-articulated express buses have dedicated lanes and take people from the suburbs to the city centre. They load people efficiently and quickly through the `tubos´. A high density of 10 - 15 storey residential buildings is maintained most of the way out to the suburbs on each line.



A series of partial circular routes (Interbarrios) provide links between neighbourhoods and a circular route around the city centre. Linha Direta lines are single-articulated and provide semi-express services between other neighbourhoods and the centre. The express systems work with incredible efficiency and speed. However, growing wealth and more people driving private cars means that bus lines without dedicated lanes must inch along with the rest of the traffic.


There are also special lines such as the Interhospitais and Linha Verde which respectively link hospitals and green spaces. This photo is along a expresso biarticulado line. Parking is next to the bus only lanes because it works better with the tubo stations.

de lujo en Sao Paulo

A wonderful family connection meant a luxurious first night in Sao Paulo. Pepe works for United Nations FAO Brazil and so I was invited as guest at the Blue Tree Morumbi hotel where he was speaking at a world conference on Bio Fuels. Brazil is trying to export its model of sugar cane to fuel production to african and asian countries.

Despite having already taken several taxi rides that were the ´most direct route´ I do not comprehend the city. At this point in time the only word I have is: endless.

Yesterday I took the Metro to the Sao Paulo bus station and a bus to Curitiba. The self proclaimed `Ciudad Ecologica´ is indeed an amazing place, although my introduction was rather ironic. Curitiba is a world wide model of urban planning and co-ordinated transport systems. I arrived at a Hostel (which costs a shocking 1/10th of the value of the Blue Tree Morumbi hotel) and soon met a Brazilian traveller with a car. He was rather undecisive regarding resaurtant choices so my introduction to the city was 1 hour driving around the centre in the dark getting lost and trying to find a safe spot to park.

Central Curitiba is a terrific place to walk - there are many pedestrian streets and beatiful plazas. After walking and exploring the centre I met up with Borghetti, a friend of Pepe´s that I had been told I must call. Him and some friends picked me up in their flashy car and took me out to lunch and then gave me a full tour of the city´s parks and sights. However, walking wasn´t their thing so the longest we spent strolling around this city´s beautiful green space was 5 minutes.

Next step is to actually tackle this city´s transport system and not rely on the car...

A blog?

I can't say I've ever done this before... so we'll see what comes of it.

I will be traveling through Brazil, Chile and Argentina from today until about march. The purpose of this trip is to visit family and friends scattered around but mostly concentrated in central and southern Chile. My other strong interest is in the urban geographies of major south american cities and to have some good times along the way.

Some South American cities are huge. Saõ Paulo, Brazil, is the world's 5th largest urban agglomeration, with a population of 18.8 million. These cities are fascinating, with little known modern architecture, complex transportation networks, infrastructures and environment strained by population growth and poor planning, and extremely visible segregation of wealth. This is a photo of the edge of the Paraisópolis favela in the Morumbi district of Saõ Paulo.