Campus Rio
funded by the University of Michigan International Institute
Project Team:
El Hadi Jazairy
Tim Bevins, Cesar Simborth Escudero, Justin Garrison, Shuqi He, Siyu Lei, Yu-Hsiang Lin, Dongye Liu, Pei Liu, Sneha Lohotekar, Jia Weng, Chi-An Wu
Over the last decade, Rio has experienced significant urban development impacting major parts of the city. In the years to come, the city’s form and performance will be further challenged by its hosting of two global events: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. These major events promise to significantly transform the economy, structure, and image of the city. While the immediate interest is focused on the success of these events, the potential contributions of such investments for the population at large and their ability to leverage multiplying effects to the youth in particular remains unaddressed. The task of looking ahead at Rio’s urban development is an opportunity to explore the institutions of higher education in the city for their potential ability to shape the longer-range future of the region.
The Campus Rio research proposes to rethink learning facilities in the context of the growing city of Rio and its hosting of major global events. It explores the potentials of articulations between educational environments and the global “event-transformations” of the city? What are the collective and public dimensions of the program, and constitutes the public? How does the academic/learning space organize activities, social events, scholastic and urban life? What are the urban and architectural strategies that best frame the relations of campus, city, and geography?