Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro
RIO DE JANEIRO
Experiencing the Botanical Garden
One of the most important research centers in the botany and biodiversity conservation fields. The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1808, with the aim of creating a place for acclimatizing plant species from different parts of the world. Thus, throughout the decades of 1810, 1820 and 1830 onwards, the Botanical Garden was used for researching different cultures, aiming to obtain raw materials to produce goods, including for export. Besides being a place for scientific research, the Botanical Garden has been gaining space as a leisure area for the population.
In Botanical Garden´s recent history, research and conservation activities have gained a larger space and today, the place is worldwide recognized as an integrated space for culture, environment and scientific knowledge.
The project aims to develop studies to strengthen the areas of public use, with interventions that enhance its character as a leisure space for the people. Valuing its history and its natural, cultural and scientific heritage. The study started by analyzing the masterplan, the urban context in which the Botanical Garden is inserted and its relations with the surroundings, with the elaboration of a diagnosis and arriving at proposals related to improvements related to the visit’s dynamic, access and accessibility, infrastructure and services, attractions and other elements to support visitators.
The immediate surroundings of the Botanical Gardens are characterized by residential and commercial areas to the south and north, respectively, with nearly consolidated urbanization. To the east, the Jockey Club boundary makes it difficult to access and integrate the Garden with the urban fabric.
Currently, the visiting infrastructure is characterized by two main areas: the cultural axis, made up of access and support structures for visitors – such as food, store, ticket office and others – and the Arboretum, made up of garden areas and other complementary attractions .
The proposal creates a change in the flow of visitation, with the definition of nuclei that present at least one attractive anchor. As a result, it is expected to enhance other areas of the park, allowing a diversification of activities and to a longer stay of the visitor and the offer of services and support structures with higher quality.
The structuring of the centers also allows the definition of visitation routes with different time schedule and aimed at a diverse public profile, seeking to meet different needs.
The interventions in the main access center, help to better organize visits, allowing the visitor to access the Cultural Hub without the need to buy a ticket to the Arboretum.
The Cultural Hub presents great potential for connecting the territory of the Garden to the urban environment, containing museums, theater, educational center, exhibition rooms, food service, resting place and events, among others. We proposed a new visitor center and a market for Brazilian products associated with cultural and food venues, fostering people’s interaction with the Arboretum space.
The other centers receive reforms and / or new interventions aimed at requalifying the visitation experience. Núcleo Casa na Árvore, receives an elevated walkway and a suspended restaurant, taking advantage of the views from the treetops. In the ruins of the Pólvoras Factory, it is proposed to remodel the existing food service, with greater use of space. The lake, the cactus and the Japanese garden receive support structures to visitation that allow the visitor to spend more time in the place. New furniture, decks and hammocks are proposed for the free areas, allowing the visitor to have more contact with the nature of the place.
