The visit to the botanical gardens has been one of my favorite locations so far. Initially, I did not think I would be very impressed with a big garden and a bunch of plants. However, it proved to be much more than an ordinary old garden. It is similar to the city in that each garden is a separate environment from the rest, with its own distinction and attributes to the garden as a whole. However, it is a place that provides a stark contrast to the noise and hustle bustle of a busy week day in Rio. The lush plants and abundance of water block out the city noises and surround you in an environment of calmness and serenity. The city seems, to me (a student who would be lost in an hour if driving its wild winding roadways), to be unorganized and confusing. However, the gardens have a clear organization and order with main axes and connection routes between and through gardens. The city is full of concrete, brick, and stone, whereas the gardens provide an abundance of organic plant life and animals (even monkeys). This gives a natural feel to the surroundings, like a place where you could relax and think clearly away from the chaos of the city. It is difficult to catch all of the color and lush plants and color in a sketch or even a picture.

We have visited two amazing gardens in recent couple of days, Sitio Roberto Burle Marx and Botanical Garden. Although the two places are all full of tropical plants, they give people different feelings. The landscape in Sitio Roberto Burle Marx is denser, and the plants are planted on hills like small forests. Also the landscape design near Burle Marx‘s house contains sustainable concept (rainwater reuse system). Thus, generally speaking, Burle Marx’s design gives people a feeling of home and makes people feel peaceful. There are some places and things there that really impressed me, like the using of stones and plants together and Burle Marx’s variety of collections. Those are where some of my sketches are come from.

The Botanical Garden makes me feel it is a more formal design, especially the using of two rows of palm trees to define a road. Perhaps it is also because of palm tree is the symbol of royalty. The garden has more species diversity. I noticed the garden has some species from different parts of the world other than Brazil, like the Japanese garden and the plants in some green houses. Overall, it is different from the Sitio Roberto Burle Marx not only because it has a larger scale design, also because they have different design concepts. The place I chose for my sketch is a short road leading by two rows of palm trees, and at the end of the road is a statue standing on a center circle piece of land surrounding by trees. I saw it as the miniature of the main feature of the graden.

Rio is a giant palette. In this city, I think most people can find their favorite color. During this trip, I tried as much as I can to record the color in this city.

Today is the last day, we went to the downtown to see the famous”Escadaria da Lapa”.  When I first enter this area, the typical Brazilian color- bright green and yellow was filled my eyes. The main stairs captured my eyes so quickly, they also arose my curious to explore higher and higher. Beside the flat stairs, the topo is arised so dramatically. It lookes like several cubes extrude from the soil and they stand there so vertically that I noticed that almost every visitors wanted to climb these big stairs and took pictures with them. The colorful tiles on the surface told the story of Brazil, it is an interesting way to show the history of the city and inform and educate citizens as well as visitors.

The second picture has a little bit Mediterranean expressions. It reminds me of Greece because of the blue.

At night, we went to the top roof. From here, we can see the night vistas of Rio. What a charming and peaceful city! The lighting makes the foreground so stand out.

Moreover, the botanic garden is full of color. Different color. I didn’t take photos by my phone, it is hard to express the garden by one sketch, but one thing I want to say is, because the shade of the foreground plants and background plants, the hierarchy of foreground and background also can be told by the color.

We visited Sitio Roberto Burle Marx two days ago and it was a fantastic experience to see the very different tropical plants work together and create the very typical tropic style environment. Roberto Burle Marx is the master landscape architect in Brazil, just like how famous Oscar Niemeyer in architecture field in this country. Sitio Roberto Burle Marx was his manor and working place and he collected about 3,500 species tropical plants to create his private landscape world.

As a person lives in temperate regions in the most of the time, I have never seen so many tropical plants and I can not name any of them. Roberto Burle Marx is a genius for using and collocating different plants to create various atmosphere. I was impressed by two things: scales and colors. There are so many species that it is a hard thing to well organize all of them but Marx used diverse plants with their various sizes of leaves and put them together to form textures and give different sense in different areas in his manor. Because of the diversity of the species, the colors of the vegetations are countless. Despite the showy colors of the flowers, the green colors of all the foliage are never the same. There are so many kinds of green colors as well as orange and yellow color and they all together create a colorful tropical worlds.

One of our last big tours and visits we took on the trip was to the Botanical Gardens. This was one of the best sites in terms of relaxation and just a peaceful atmosphere. I was able to get some real good sketches in. I found this trail near the back of the gardens and followed it for a bit. Now I’m definitely not a nature guy by any means, but I can appreciate it. The trail was so serene just being surrounded by trees and water. I eventually came to a random concrete bench in the forest which was where I did my first sketch.
I continued on the trail until I finally decided to veer off of it and head down some steps. There I found a small waterfall which was beautiful. This was where I completed my second sketch. Some of the other highlights of the Gardens were the huge row of Palm trees which Vanesa explained the significance of. I also really enjoyed the Japanese Gardens. They had this cool path in the water that you were able to step out on and almost made it seem like you were in the water.
Another site that also caught my eye was the Bromeliario which contained a beautiful waterfall piece that was nice. I also found a lady from Sweden there who spoke English and said she actually knew where Ohio State was. Small world! But overall the Gardens as a whole was awesome. I was able to really meditate and just take time time to think about life with no distractions. This site is definitely one I recommend if anyone were to visit Rio!
A picture of my sketch from the first place I stopped along the path.

we went to the Botanical garden in Rio today. It is a big world for different kinds of vegetations. It is a good place for people to relax and have fun. But when I first saw the two lines of palms at entrance, it made me feel really serious and it seems that I would went into a palace. And when I got deeper into the garden, I felt more relaxed. The big trees created lots of shield places for people to enjoy the cool. And I really like the use of circle in the garden. I always believe circle make me feel more casual and relax. Like there are some circle shape area to plant bamboos and I enjoyed the time sitting among those area (except I was bitten by mosquitoes hardly at that time).
And small circular lake in the garden is also a beautiful spot. There are some circle shape vegetations on the surface of the water and makes this spot looks harmony.
What’s more, the circular void surrounds the fountain can be a good public gathering place for people. At the time I waiting for the group here, I saw a overdressed Brazil girl taking photos here. Her father told me that she is preparing for her 15 year old birthday party and that is why she is taking photos here.
This place gave me a good spot to communicate with the local people to understand more about their life.I enjoyed the time I spent in the botanical garden.

Sitio Roberto Burle Marx was magnificent to experience both visually and auditory. Although many of my classmates quickly became walking buffets for the mosquitos, the bugs seemed to not like me very much (maybe i´m just not sweet enough). It was fairly humerous to see my classmates jumping around and swatting at each other as well as themselves in a feble attempt to fend off the air raid of mosquitos. That being said, I was intrigued by the feeling of immersion that overtook me as we walked throughout the site.no matter where we were along the path there was so much foliage that I felt almost consumed by the plants. It was impressive to see the sheer number of species of different plants located on the site. Igor said there were some 3500 different species of which Marx himself discovered 40 species. This was a little shocking but inspiring to hear about such a prominent figure trudging through the forest in hopes of discovery. It was also inspiring to see some of the plants which had been growing since he himself brought them to the site in 1949, meaning some of those plants have been there and continued to grow for more than 65 years. The fact that this was a personal site as well as later being protected by the government allowed the plants to grow without boundaries. There were some plants that I was able to recognize, however they were far larger than I had ever seen before. Some of the leaves of the plants were as large as my torso. I was also impressed by the restoration and incorporation of the previously existing derelict buildings. Roberto Burle Marx was a true Renaissance man in that he was able to successfully incorporate nature, art and architecture into one beautiful site.

Niemeyer’s world has high identity. Curving shape, white surface, round circulation… He introduces me into his own different architecture story. Oscar Niemeyer foundation building, white smooth surface make the building looks very neat when I stood in a distance. Also, the giant volume and big ramp determines the height of the building, which creates a sacred atmosphere there. He also used the color of yellow which reminds me I am in Brazil now, it is so real, and so Brazil! The most interesting point of his work is the ramp. I fancy it so much because I cannot only see the vistas from the building, but also my perspective view of Landscape is always changing according to the height of my sight and different horizontal spot. Moreover, it is good to see how people move on this ramp, how can people flow from different direction.

In addition, it is obviously that Niemeyer like to use water. It makes the hard space more soft. For the Niteroi art meseum, it blurs the edge of the building. I feel like the building embraces the landscape so nicely.

The two sketches which is the Education& Health building and Niteroi art meseum. Straight line VS. curve line. Enjoy.

Today we had the opportunity to explore landscapes designed by Roberto Burle Marx. The first was outside the Ministry of Health and Education, and consisted of a series of landscapes on both sides of the structure. I loved the way the organic, curvy forms of the gardens contrast with the harsh angles of the building. Aimee pointed out how skillfully Marx aligns a row of Palm trees behind a row of columns. I think this is an awesome way to unite the landscape with the architecture. I attached a sketch that I did at this landscape of one of the many beautiful plants incorporated in the design.

I was even more impressed with Marx’s “parque praia,” the long park that hugs Flamenco beach. He transitions from one type of landscape to another seamlessly, making each part of the park distinct while allowing each of those parts become part of a larger, cohesive whole. I loved how he incorporated things like a skate park and amphitheater that attract people who may not otherwise visit the park. Like the landscape outside the ministry of health and education building, Marx uses gentle curves to lead you smoothly from one area to another. In addition to admiring the landscape, we got the chance to try slack lining with some friendly cariocas!