Author: Xiaolu Liu

Impressions of Rio de Janeiro

img042

Looking back to the sketches I did in Rio remind me a lot of experience I got from Rio. Rio is a city that combines so many unique features: beach, mountain, plants, and busy urban. The city of Rio is deeply influenced by the beaches because all kind of activities happen on the beaches. There are people jogging along the beach, laying on the beach, working out and playing volleyball on the beach. Beach become a place where Brazilians show their passion. The comparison between Copacabana and Ipanema is a way of showing how the urban is developed along the shoreline.

 

img049The day we went to visit Christ the Redeemer is really foggy that you cannot even see Christ’s feet. But I still enjoyed the unique view seeing through the fog. We have seen a lot of photos taken in a sunny day and Christ the Redeemer is hugging the whole city. Seeing even part of the status has already amazed me how huge it is and how much work and time it took to build it.

 

 

 

 

img045img044img047Inserted in Rio culture, Rio de Janeiro Cathedral has such a different interior and exterior look. My impression of the exterior when I saw it was a lot of concrete and this cathedral has such a strong characteristic. And the interior has such a strong pattern of colors, worked with the natural light from the outside. We also went to the Nossa Senhora do Brasil Church, whose scale is so much smaller than the cathedral. Different from the cathedral, the church is following the European style.

It is so fascinating to see the landscape and architecture in Rio, which speak to the natural contexts of Rio so much. Every piece of land tells a story of the city.

a free day wandering in Rio

Rio de Janeiro is a city that I want to wander around to every corner of the city, and today is a freeday! Zen, Ran, Yuanyuan and I decided to explore the city more. We went to the post office and sent a piece of Rio to our families and friends, hoping to share with them our wonderful experience in Rio.IMG_7126
DSC05853Our second stop is the Escadaria Selarón, which is a long, colorful steps. It reflects the colorful side of Rio. The materials it used is kind of mosaic, which share the same method with the pavement of pedestrians in Rio ( as we can find in along the beach and in the downtown area). Each mosaic is unique in terms of its shape and story. The step is like a collection of art from all the citizens and the story is continuing as you are walking along the steps, I can almost image the steps can be continued by generations and generations, which will finally become a stepping way that tell the story of Rio, an outdoor museum.
DSC05848The bright colors reminded me the green tropical plants in Rio, which is a huge contrast with the steps in color. The experience is so different from the Botanical garden, which was full of green. The trees along the steps also created shades, adding another layer for the Escadaria Selarón. The bright, high-contrast colors shined under the sun, which attracted a lot of tourists. We spent a huge amount of time there and really enjoyed ourselves.

Botanical Garden in Rio

DSC06021The garden is indeed a museum for all kinds of tropical plants in Rio. I am so fancinated by the garden, all the individual plants and the way the designer use it to organize space. Every trunk of the trees are so unique. They are all like telling a story of the garden. Seeing all the movements of different human beings and other species everyday, they are always there. I am also very inserted to see the contrast between the older plants and the new plants. In this garden, you can see almost a tree life cycle at one time- they changed a lot.

 

DSC06017 It is very impressing that he designer used different trees to create the boulevard that help people to locate their location and direction. And use elements like a fountain to guide people’s view.

DSC06020The lily in the lake area all match with its context, which decorate the flat open water surface.
There is a Japanese garden inside, which reminds me the planting material it used in the other part ps of the garden- bamboo. It is interesting because the designer provided a different way of using the bamboo. We usually plant them in a linear way, but here bamboo are in branches. Created a lower canopy for the visitors. That might be because all the palm trees are growing much higher, which lose the canopy ceiling for people. But the bamboo are now functioning like this.
It inspired me that sometime, the same planting material can be used in different ways if designer can design with their features.

Some Sketches

DSC05477副本

Today we went to the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum. It stands out from its context so much that we were able to see it from a distance. It looks like the house in the movie “Iron Man”, which located on the cliff of the seaside and have an amazing panorama view. But the landscape design around it is a little bit disappointing. I think if the reflecting pool under the architecture can be extended even more and connect with the hard pavement, it will help the architecture stand out even more.

DSC05470副本 This is a sketch of the landscape design of palacio gustavo capanema, which help connect the architecture with its adjacent sidewalks. The height of the vegetation also change in elevation (higher inside and lower outside), which create a canopy for the paths into the side. The columns of the architecture speak to the trunks of palm trees, growing high and straight.

DSC05472副本 This is a quick sketch of Niemeyer way in Niteroi and some patterns on the facade of the building. The buildings are very much like the dancing movements, curvilinear and elegant, simple and strong.

Amazed by Rio

We got to explore Rio a little bit more today, mainly around Ipanema and Capacabana beach. It is so good to lay on the beach and run into the sea. I saw a lot of interesting trees along the beaches and streets, which I think we might be able to see some of them in the botanical garden.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is Ficus microcarpa, which I used to see a lot in south China. It has those interesting roots on its branches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know the name of this plant. I found this on the sidewalk around Ipanema area. It looks like a scaled pineapple.

 

DSC05184-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a tree I saw on the way to the Capacabana beach. It has some hanging planter attached on its trunk. A living planter!!!

DSC05049

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa introduced this Rio snack to us on Ipanema beach, it is called Globo. It has two tastes- sweet and salty and will melt in your mouth.

DSC05046

 

 

 

We are sharing the Globo together, I like the sweet one 😉

 

image

 

 

 

 

We had an amazing lunch/dinner in “nomangue”. We had a combination of different seafoods. The grilled lobster is so good. You can almost smell the fresh air from the sea.